Black Monday global stock market crash, 1987 Actions Cite verifiedCite While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Select Citation Style MLA APA Chicago Manual of Style Copy Citation Share Share Share to social media Facebook X URL https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Monday-1987 Give Feedback External Websites Feedback Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Feedback Type Select a type (Required) Factual Correction Spelling/Grammar Correction Link Correction Additional Information Other Your Feedback Submit Feedback Thank you for your feedback Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

　　External Websites Corporate Finance Institute - Black Monday Market Crash BBC News - The stock market crash of 1987: What have we learned? Federal Reserve History - Stock Market Crash of 1987 Print Cite verifiedCite While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Select Citation Style MLA APA Chicago Manual of Style Copy Citation Share Share Share to social media Facebook X URL https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Monday-1987 Feedback External Websites Feedback Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Feedback Type Select a type (Required) Factual Correction Spelling/Grammar Correction Link Correction Additional Information Other Your Feedback Submit Feedback Thank you for your feedback Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

　　External Websites Corporate Finance Institute - Black Monday Market Crash BBC News - The stock market crash of 1987: What have we learned? Federal Reserve History - Stock Market Crash of 1987 Written by Fid Backhouse and others Fid Backhouse is one of several contributors to 501 Most Devastating Disasters. Fid Backhouse and others Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Last Updated: Jul 22, 2024 • Article History Table of Contents

　　New York Stock Exchange See all media Date: October 19, 1987 (Show more) Location: United States (Show more) See all related content →

　　What caused the Black Monday stock market crash?On October 19, 1987, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 508 points, about 22.6 percent of its value.(more)See all videos for this articleBlack Monday, global stock market crash that occurred on October 19, 1987.

　　There have been several Black Mondays in history that are connected to stock market collapses, but what is arguably the worst of them arrived in 1987. October 19 was the day when global stock markets went into collective meltdown, destroying nearly half the world’s paper wealth.

　　Rapid growth in the United States had started to slow, and the Dow Jones Industrial Index reflected declining optimism, falling steadily from its August peak. Stock markets around the world were already jittery when Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index crashed. The ripple effect reached Europe, and, after U.S. warships shelled Iranian oil platforms in response to a missile attack on an American ship, alarms went off all over Wall Street. After having lost some 10 percent of its value the week before, the Dow Jones Industrial Index fell 508 points, or 22.6 percent, on Black Monday, wiping out $500 billion in what was, at that time, the biggest-ever one-day stock-market loss to date.

　　A clear and simple explanation for this extraordinary event is lacking, thus introducing another “black” to the equation: the Black Swan. This term refers to a major happening with massive impact that is hard to predict and beyond the scope of established expectations.

　　Some say Black Monday was a case of fear eclipsing greed; others claim the cause was newly computerized trading programs that sold stocks automatically as the markets fell, exacerbating the slide. Whatever the cause, the effect on worldwide financial markets was disastrous, and it took some time for investors to recover in many international markets.

　　In Australia and New Zealand the crash became known as Black Tuesday because it was the next day by the time the events of Black Monday had arrived in the Southern Hemisphere. Australia’s stock market fell by over 40 percent, and New Zealand’s suffered a dramatic drop of nearly two-thirds from its 1987 peak.

　　Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now Despite the ravages of Black Monday, the U.S. market recouped nearly 60 percent of its losses in only two trading sessions, and the Dow Jones ended 1987 with a small increase. On January 2, 1987, it stood at 1,897 points and rose to 1,939 by December 31, 1987. In between, however, it had reached a dizzying 2,722-point peak in late August—a figure not attained again until 1989.