What was the 1989 U.S. market event called after the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 190.58 points in one day?

The 1989 U.S. market event after the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 190.58 points was called the Friday the 13th mini-crash.

The decline occurred on Friday, October 13, 1989. The Dow dropped 190.58 points, then a very large point loss because the index stood near 2,600. The percentage decline was about 6.9%, far smaller than the 1987 Black Monday collapse but still substantial.

The sell-off was associated with the breakdown of a planned leveraged buyout of United Airlines’ parent company. The failure raised concerns about junk bonds, takeover financing, and the broader condition of credit markets. Those concerns helped trigger heavy selling during the session.

It is called a “mini-crash” because it resembled a smaller, concentrated market panic rather than a prolonged collapse on the scale of 1929 or 1987. The date supplied the memorable “Friday the 13th” label.