Horrid week has investors seeking respite as Dow sinks to four-month low

Spring has sprung — just not in US stocks, where a harrowing week has walloped traders with echoes of February’s correction.

In the past five years, there have been only two other stretches with losses of this magnitude. The S&P 500 Index is down 6 per cent. And the picture looks just as bad for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which sank to a four-month low by the Friday close. Both indexes suffered their steepest weekly drop in more than two years.

Equities are now teetering near -- and for blue chips, below -- levels seen at the worst point in February’s