On October 19, 1987, Wall Street experienced a nightmarish stock market crash. To this day, no one knows why it happened.
It is no coincidence that this day went down in history as Black Monday - the Dow Jones index, the barometer of the New York Stock Exchange, collapsed, losing 22.61 percent of its value. Nearly $560 billion melted away in seven hours, Deutsche Welle recalls. Panic gradually gripped Wall Street and in the early afternoon hours, the quotes collapsed. Sell orders poured in, brokers left the stock exchange through secret exits to avoid the crowd that had gathered on the street.
The reasons for this stock market crash are still not fully understood. However, the stock market crash was not followed by either a depression or a recession. The Dow Jones managed to recover.
Other famous “black” dates are December 12, 1914 - the beginning of World War I, when the index fell by 24.39%, as well as September 17, 2001 - the first working day on the stock exchange after the terrorist attacks of September 11. It is interesting that despite everything, the Dow Jones ended 1987 in positive territory. On January 2, 1987, the index opened at 1,897 points, and on December 31, it closed at 1,939 points.