What 1973–1974 global bear market followed oil-price shocks and ended with the Dow Jones down about 45% from its 1973 high?

The 1973–1974 stock-market crash was a global bear market that followed oil-price shocks, inflation and recession. In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 45 percent from its January 1973 high to its December 1974 low.

The crisis followed the end of the Bretton Woods monetary system and the 1973 oil embargo associated with the Yom Kippur War. Energy costs surged, economic growth weakened and inflation became persistent. Political scandals, including Watergate, further damaged investor confidence.

This was a drawn-out decline rather than a single trading-day collapse. The bear market affected the United States, Britain and other major exchanges, and it helped shape modern concerns about stagflation—simultaneous inflation and weak growth.