The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined nearly 89 percent from its 1929 peak to its 1932 low.
The Dow reached a closing high of 381.17 on September 3, 1929. After the Wall Street crash and the worsening economic depression, it continued falling for several years, reaching a low of 41.22 on July 8, 1932.
That long decline was much larger than the losses recorded during the famous October 1929 sessions alone. The crash damaged confidence, but banking failures, deflation, falling production, unemployment, and weak demand extended the market’s bear phase.
The Dow did not recover its 1929 closing high until 1954. The figure is often rounded to 89 percent; it describes the peak-to-trough fall in the index, not a loss suffered equally by every investor or every stock.