By: History.com Editors

2008

Dow suffers record-breaking single-day drop

History.com Editors

Published: July 10, 2019

Last Updated: February 18, 2025

On September 29, 2008, after Congress failed to pass a $700 billion bank bailout plan, the Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 777.68 points—at the time, the largest single-day point loss in its history.

Down 7 percent, a greater loss than the 684.81 skid on September 17, 2001 (the first trading day post-9/11), the S&P 500 also suffered its biggest one-day loss since the 1987 crash, dropping 8.8 percent, and the Nasdaq fell 9.1 percent, its biggest single-day point loss in eight years.

The huge decline followed the bankruptcies of Wall Street brokerage firm Lehman Brothers, Savings and Loan bank Washington Mutual, as well as the Fed’s announcement that it would provide an $85 billion bailout for insurance provider American International Group (better known as AIG) to keep it from going under.

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Also playing into things was a housing slowdown that triggered homeowners to suffer subprime mortgage defaults, widespread job losses and the Fed’s intervention to bail out investment bank Bear Stearns, as well as government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Congress’s inability to pass the Bush administration’s bill led to fears that the nearly frozen credit markets wouldn’t be able to rebound quickly, causing sellers to shed their stocks. The Dow drop equaled a whopping $1.2 trillion loss in market value, contributing to the 18-month-long Great Recession.

Congress eventually did pass a bailout bill, with Bush signing the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. The Dow drop remained the largest single-day point loss until 2018.

The first stock ticker (top left) was invented by E. A. Calahan in 1867. Since then the ticker underwent many changes. The advent of the ticker revolutionized the stock market by making up-to-the-minute prices available to investors around the country. Previously, updates from the New York Stock Exchange were carried by messenger or the postal service.

Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

New York Stock Exchange building on Broad Street, New York, NY, opened in 1903. Designed by architect George B. Post, it features grand Corinthian pillars, statues by John Quincy Adams Ward, a marble trading floor and a 70-foot-high ceiling.

Geo. P. Hall & Son/The New York Historical Society/Getty Images

On September 16, 1920, a wagon parked in front of Wall Street’s Assay Office exploded at 12:01 p.m. The explosion was so powerful that it reverberated through the streets and sent a car flying into the 34th floor of the Equitable Building, before crashing down to the ground. Thirty people were killed and hundreds were injured.

Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

Stock prices began to decline in September and early October 1929, and on October 18 the fall began. Panic set in, and on October 24, Black Thursday, a record 12,894,650 shares were traded. By October 28, known as Black Tuesday, a panic ensued with 16 million shares traded away, and the over the next day, the market lost $30 billion.

AFP/Getty Images

Bankrupt investor Walter Thornton trying to sell his luxury roadster for $100 cash on the streets of New York City following the 1929 stock market crash. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

It took all of the 1930s for the market to recover from the crash during a period called the Great Depression. Here, bankrupt investor Walter Thornton tries to sell his luxury roadster for $100 cash on the streets of New York City following the crash.

Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

Wall Street experienced one of the largest single-day crashes, with a $500 billion loss when markets plummeted worldwide on October 19, 1987. The computers of Wall Street were programmed to sell stock at specific price thresholds. After the 1987 crash, special rules were implemented to allow automated protocols to be overridden and prevent future disasters.

Maria Bastone/AFP/Getty Images

Sculptor Arturo Di Modica created “Charging Bull” in 1989 as a symbol, in his words, of the “strength and power of the American people” after the stock market crash of 1987. In 2017, artist Kristen Visbala crafted a bronze statue of a girl, fists on her hips, staring down “Charging Bull.” “Fearless Girl” was sponsored by the investment firm State Street Global Advisors as a way to promote gender diversity in business.

Volkan Furuncu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

While “Fearless Girl” proved popular, city officials said its placement created a pedestrian hazard and sculptor Di Modica argued it changed the symbolism of his “Charging Bull” to a negative one. In December 2018, the statue was moved to a new spot across from the New York Stock Exchange.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on September 29th

1780

Benedict Arnold’s accomplice is sentenced to death

British spy John André is court-martialed, found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging on September 29, 1780. André, an accomplice of Benedict Arnold, had been captured by Patriots John Paulding, David Williams and Isaac Van Wart six days earlier on September 23, after they found incriminating papers stashed in his boot.

1907

The great singing cowboy Gene Autry is born in Texas

Gene Autry, perhaps the greatest singing cowboy of all time, is born on September 29, 1907, in Tioga, Texas.

1913

Inventor Rudolf Diesel mysteriously vanishes

On September 29, 1913, Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the engine that bears his name, disappears from the steamship Dresden while traveling from Antwerp, Belgium to Harwich, England. On October 10, a Belgian sailor aboard a North Sea steamer spotted a body floating in the water; upon further investigation, it turned out that the body was Diesel’s. There was, and remains, a great deal of mystery surrounding his death: It was officially judged a suicide, but many people believed (and still believe) that Diesel was murdered.

1918

Allied forces break through the Hindenburg Line

On September 29, 1918, after a 56-hour-long bombardment, Allied forces breach the so-called Hindenburg Line, the last line of German defenses on the Western Front during World War I.

1939

Nazis and communists divvy up Poland

On September 29, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union agree to divide control of occupied Poland roughly along the Bug River—the Germans taking everything west, the Soviets taking everything east.

1941

Babi Yar massacre begins

The Babi Yar massacre of nearly 34,000 Jewish men, women and children begins on the outskirts of Kiev in the Nazi-occupied Ukraine.

1953

New York Times article claims Russians want the “American dream”

An article in the New York Times claims that Russian citizens want the “American dream”: private property and a home of their own. The article was one of many that appeared during the 1950s and 1960s, as the American media attempted to portray the average Russian as someone not much different from the average American.

1982

Cyanide-laced Tylenol kills first three of seven victims

On September 29, 1982, three Chicago area residents become ill and die after ingesting Extra-Strength Tylenol later found to be poisoned with cyanide. They are the first of seven victims to lose their lives after taking the over-the-counter pain reliever, which had been tampered with. The case would create a national panic over the safety of nonprescription medications and lead to new standards for pill packaging.

This Day In History: Cyanide-laced Tylenol kills six

1988

Stacy Allison becomes first American woman to reach summit of Mt. Everest

Stacy Allison of Portland, Oregon, becomes the first American woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, which at 29,035 feet above sea level is the highest point on earth. Allison, a member of the Northwest American Everest Expedition, climbed the Himalayan peak using the southeast ridge route.

1991

“My Own Private Idaho” premieres in theaters

On September 29, 1991, My Own Private Idaho, an independent film written and directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix, premieres in New York theaters. The movie told the story of two young male hustlers, one of whom (Phoenix) is a hapless narcoleptic searching for the mother who abandoned him, and the other of whom (Reeves) comes from a wealthy family (the character was inspired, in part, by Shakespeare’s Prince Hal in Henry IV). The pair meets in Portland, Oregon, and later travels to Idaho and Italy. My Own Private Idaho–the title reportedly came from a song by the rock band the B-52s–was nominated for six Independent Spirit Awards and won for Best Screenplay, Best Male Lead (Phoenix) and Best Film Music.

1995

Mexican American voting rights advocate Willie Velasquez awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom

On September 29, 1995, voting rights advocate Willie Velasquez is posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Velasquez and the organizations he founded are credited with dramatically increasing political awareness and participation among the Hispanic communities of the Southwestern United States.

Willie Velasquez

2005

Reporter Judith Miller released from prison

On September 29, 2005, New York Times reporter Judith Miller is released from a federal detention center in Alexandria, Virginia, after agreeing to testify in the investigation into the leaking of the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame. Miller had been behind bars since July 6, 2005, for refusing to reveal a confidential source and testify before a grand jury that was looking into the so-called Plame Affair. She decided to testify after the source she had been protecting, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, signed a waiver giving her permission to speak.

This Day In History: Cyanide-laced Tylenol kills six

2006

School principal murdered by student in Wisconsin

John Klang, the principal of Weston High School in Cazenovia, Wisconsin, is shot and killed by 15-year-old student Eric Hainstock on September 29, 2006. The incident takes place amidst a spate of school violence across North America, including a shooting rampage at a Canadian college on September 13 and a hostage situation at a Colorado high school on September 27.

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Citation Information

Article title
Dow suffers record-breaking single-day drop
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
March 22, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
February 18, 2025
Original Published Date
July 10, 2019

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