Black Monday 1987

In finance, Black Monday refers to Monday October 19, 1987. On this day stock and futures markets around the world crashed. In a very short time frame an enormous amount was lost on all markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropped from 2247 to 1738.74 for a total loss of 508 points or 22.61%.

The crash began in Hong Kong and spread west to Europe, hitting the United States after other markets had already declined by a significant margin.

By the end of October 1987 the following losses were suffered:

• Hong Kong: 45.5%
• Australia: 41.8%
• Spain 31%
• United Kingdom: 26.5%
• United States: 22.7%
• Canada: 22.5%
• New Zealand: 60%

The terms Black Monday and Black Tuesday are also applied to October 28 and 29, 1929, which occurred after Black Thursday on October 24, which started the Stock Market Crash of 1929.