The ASX 200 is now down more than 7 per cent for the past five trading days and in the US the S&P 500 has technically entered a bear market which signifies a fall of 20 per cent from its highs.

There are growing fears the US will enter a recession within the next year but in Australia, while growth forecasts have been cut, there was no likelihood yet that its economy was about to contract.

The drop on the ASX 200 was the biggest since March 2020 when fears grew about the impact of the pandemic.

The ASX 200 fell to as low as 6564 before finding support and rebounding above 6600.

Some of the world’s wealthiest people have suffered huge losses. Elon Musk has lost $US12 billion overnight and $US73 billion since the start of the year. Gautum Adani lost almost $US2 billion in the latest trading but remains up $US16 billion for the year.

According to Bloomberg’s billionaire index, Andrew Forrest and Gina Rinehart have lost more than $1 billion this week. Forrest still has $US21 billion and Rinehart $US22 billion.

Atlassian founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar both lost about $US1 billion this week but still sit on $US10 billion each.

Crypto has also been hammered and Bitcoin is now trading near $US21,000. About $US2 trillion has been wiped off the value of the total crypto market since December. In April, Bitcoin was trading above $US40,000.

Tech stocks have also suffered because of the more speculative nature of the investment.

The fall on the ASX wipes out any hope that superannuation funds could generate another positive financial year. The ASX has fallen almost 12 per cent since January and 10 per cent for the past year.

Banks and miners were hit hard and among the Queensland stocks, EML Payments was down 10 per cent, Allkem was down 8 per cent and Eagers Auto was down 7 per cent. Galillee Energy fell 21 per cent as did Revolver Resources.