As markets drop over Trump’s tariffs, here are the worst days ever.
As the world reels from tariffs instituted by the Trump administration, stock markets are widely in decline.
On Friday, U.S. stock saw the worst decline since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. But the declines last week did not rank among the worst crashes in the history of the U.S. stock markets.
President Donald Trump said Sunday, “I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something and we have such a horrible — we have been treated so badly by other countries because we had stupid leadership that allowed this to happen.”
Here are the worst declines in the history of the Dow Jones Industrial Average by percentage:
5.) March 12, 2020 (-2,352.60, -9.99%)
Four days before the worst COVID-related drop in stocks, the Dow slid 9.99%. Blue chip stocks also dropped 7.79% — the 14th-worst all-time — on March 9, the first day of the COVID-induced drops.
4.) Oct. 29, 1929 (-30.57, -11.73%)
People gather in front of the New York Stock Exchange, Oct. 29, 1929.
Bettmann Archive via Getty Images
The stock market crash of October 1929 signaled the end of the “Roaring Twenties” and the beginning of the Great Depression. This was the second day of the big drop, known as “Black Tuesday,” which began one day earlier and occupies the next spot on this list.
3.) Oct. 28, 1929 (-38.33, -12.82%)
The first Black Monday in the history of the Dow Jones, investors’ fortunes were wiped out in a major wake-up call for people who thought the the good times would last forever.
2.) March 16, 2020 (-2,997.10, -12.93%)
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, March 16, 2020, in New York City.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Many Americans can recall the crash that happened as the world was shutting down over the COVID-19 pandemic. The worldwide shutdowns and disruptions to the global supply chain caused investors to bail.
1.) Oct. 19, 1987 (-508, -22.61%)
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange look at stock prices as stocks were devastated during one of the most frantic days in the exchange’s history, Oct. 19, 1987.
Maria Bastone/AFP via Getty Images
Black Monday, or the first contemporary global financial crisis according to the Federal Reserve, followed seven months of explosive growth on Wall Street. Stocks had climbed 44% over those months, according to the Fed, before the U.S. announced a larger-than-expected trade deficit. After moderate losses in the week before, the global markets tanked and Monday opened to panic from U.S. investors as well.
Note: The Dow Jones officially considers Dec. 12, 1914, the worst day in trading history, but economists agree 1987’s Black Monday was the worst. The stock market closed in July 1914 due to the start of World War I, and wouldn’t open again until Dec. 12, 1914. Even then, it was on a limited basis, with the official return to full trading on April 1, 1915. Technically, the Dow actually went up on Dec. 12, 1914, but a retroactive correction makes it look like it went down.
Source: S&P Global
