What’s the biggest stock market crash ever?

Crash comparison

What’s the biggest stock market crash ever? 

– There are different ways to measure a crash. The biggest percentage fall in the Dow Jones Index in a single day occurred on 19 October 1987 (or ‘Black Monday’) when the Dow fell by 22.6%. 

– The biggest fall in percentage terms over a longer period was in the Nasdaq – covering tech shares – which fell by 80% between January 2000 and October 2002.

– The biggest fall in terms of the amount of money wiped off the US market – at least until this week – was in February/March 2020, when the S&P500 lost 34% of its value over the course of a month, including losing $3.3 trillion of value in two days. 

– Perhaps the most painful crash is one where it takes a long time for the market to reach its previous peak. On this, the Wall Street crash of 1929 is unparalleled, with the market taking 25 years to recover. By contrast, the S&P500 took five years after its October 2007 peak to reach that value again. In 2020, it took nine months.

Utmost imports

Prior to Donald Trump’s announcement of tariffs, which countries had the lowest – and the highest average tariffs – on imports?

Lowest

Hong Kong, Macao 0%

US 3.4%

EU 4.9%

UK 5.1%

Montenegro 5.3%

Ukraine 5.8%

Highest

Bangladesh 155.1%

Nigeria 120.5%

Tanzania 120%

Zimbabwe 106.7%

Kuwait 98%

Kenya 93.8%

Other notable countries include China (10%) and India (50.8%).

Source: World Trade Organisation

Roundabout

The government relaxed its proposed ban on petrol hybrids. How the date for banning petrol and diesel cars has changed:

2017: Theresa May’s government announces ban on petrol and diesel cars from 2040. 

Feb 2020: Boris Johnson brings date forward to 2035. 

Nov 2020: Date brought forward again to 2030, with hybrids being allowed to be sold until 2035. 

Sept 2023: Rishi Sunak pushes ban on pure petrol and diesel cars back to 2035.

June 2024: Labour manifesto proposes that ban be restored to 2030.