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Article: Stock Market Suffers Largest Loss in History As Dow Industrial Average Drops 508 Points; Plunge Blamed on Anxieties And Computerized Trading Series: THE STOCK MARKET CRISIS
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- October 20, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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The stock market was devastated by the worst one-day collapse in
history yesterday in a pandemonium of panic selling that shattered
all records and swamped stock exchanges around the country and
overseas.
The best-known market barometer-the Dow Jones average of 30
industrial stocks-plummeted 508 points, five times the previous
record set last Friday. The Dow closed at 1738, dropping 22.6
percent, or nearly double the 12.8 percent plunge of Oct. 29, 1929,
the crash that began the Great Depression.
More than 604 million shares were traded on the New York Stock
Exchange and 239 million on the American and over-the-counter
markets, shattering previous records.
Investors lost more than ...