Originally Posted by
jungle
Here are the Five Biggest One Day Point Losses for the DJIA:
1. 9/17/2001 -> -684.81 (first full day of trading after 9/11)
2. 4/14/2000 -> -617.78 (the Dot Com bubble is popping)
3. 10/27/1997 -> -554.26 (Asian stock market crisis)
4. 8/31/1998 -> -512.61 (LTCM Crisis)
5. 10/19/1987 -> -508.00 (Stock Market Crash of 1987)
The original list, with percentage point losses, is more informative.
While the media certainly hyped up the "largest point loss ever" last week, they somehow failed to mention that the value of the DJIA is also higher than at most times in the past, so 700 points is a relatively small percentage change (about 7%). Much less than some of the historical drops.