Hopes for a recovery in the U.S. stock market were dashed Wednesday as investors’ deepening fears about the strength of the world’s largest economies drove another wave of selling.

The 2.5 percent slide in the market’s main benchmark, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, was the worst so far this year, and came after two days of slight gains that had suggested some confidence was returning after a rocky start to the year. The index is now in what Wall Street calls a correction: a decline of 10 percent or more from its most recent high.

The market decline indicates that investors still see plenty of risks lurking, many of them stemming from China’s slowing economy. The persistent weakness in the price of oil is another market indicator that has raised questions about global growth.

The U.S. economy has been showing some signs of steady growth. But investors are concerned that problems in China’s economy, and the stress that creates for other countries, could unleash forces that ultimately weigh on the United States.

“When you change perceptions for the growth rate of the third-largest economic region in the world,” said Jim Vogel, interest rates strategist at FTN Financial, “you have to reprice across all financial markets to account for that slowing growth.”

If the stock market continues to fall and deplete households’ savings, consumers may then pull back on their spending, which can weigh on the economy. Already this year, the value of the companies in the S&P 500 has fallen by $1.3 trillion, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Still, the selling may pass. Many Wall Street analysts say there are reasons a bear market — a decline of more than 20 percent from a high — will not occur. Stocks, they say, are not wildly overvalued. But few analysts are expecting a big bounce back for the stock market.

“We believe this year is going to look very much like 2001, 2002,” said Mark Yusko, chief investment officer at Morgan Creek Capital Management. “People forget the markets basically went down for 30 months and the economy slowed and eventually went into a mini-recession.”

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