The Dow Jones industrial average fell 666 points on Friday, a number that’s captured the imagination of some Twitter users.
666 is called the “number of the Beast,” an antagonistic creature in the New Testament’s Book of Revelation that surfaces during a vision of the apocalypse.
“How much did the Dow drop today? 666 points. Let me say it again: 666,” Stephen King wrote in a tweet. “Coincidence? I think not.”
“The Dow closed … down 666 pts. … Anyone else creeped out? …mildly creeped??” asked another Twitter user.
The drop, the Dow’s sixth-largest single-day point drop in history, came just two days after President Donald Trump boasted about the performance of the stock market in his State of the Union address to Congress.
With a decline of 2.5 percent, Friday marked the Dow’s largest percentage decline since the UK’s Brexit vote in 2016. However, despite the president’s fondness for using stock market performance as a measure of his success and myriad Twitter jokes to the contrary, experts say the decline has little to do with Trump.
According to CNN Money, the drop is being attributed to a Friday jobs report, which showed rising wages for American workers that could potentially eat into corporate profits, and concern from investors about inflation and future interest rates.
Or maybe we’re in hell.
How much did the Dow drop today? 666 points. Let me say it again:666.
Coincidence? I think not.— Stephen King (@StephenKing) February 2, 2018
https://twitter.com/shervinian/status/959568953864478721
https://twitter.com/gmachrisc/status/959568933929013248
The Dow closed … down 666 pts.
… Anyone else creeped out? …mildly creeped?? ?? https://t.co/6h3nU3oYHy— Shanice Goodwin (@ShaniceNinja) February 2, 2018
Dow drops 666, the mark of the beast.
Antichrist trump accepts responsibility.Just kidding.
trump would never accept responsibility… https://t.co/RJLHark11Z— ????Owl be seeing you … (@Tasreme) February 2, 2018
DOW loses 666 points today. That number feels so random.
— s ᴄ ᴏ ᴛ ᴛ ♿️ (@Pasturescott) February 2, 2018
Dow plummets 666 points. Apparently they got "the memo" (and that we're in Hell). https://t.co/W3A3bO72MS
— rollo manhattan (@rollomanhattan) February 2, 2018
https://twitter.com/HayekAndKeynes/status/959552927907139585