The lowest closing value of the Dow Jones Industrial Average during the 1973–1974 stock-market crash was 577.60.
The Dow closed at 577.60 on December 6, 1974, marking the low point of a bear market that had begun after the index’s January 1973 peak. From its high of about 1,051.70, the Dow lost roughly 45% before reaching that bottom.
The crash occurred amid a difficult combination of events, including the 1973 oil crisis, high inflation, economic stagnation, and political uncertainty surrounding the Watergate scandal. The period is often associated with “stagflation,” a condition in which weak economic growth coexists with elevated inflation.
The 1973–1974 crash is distinct from the 1970 bear market and the later 1987 Black Monday collapse. The Dow eventually recovered, but the episode remained one of the most severe U.S. equity-market declines of the postwar era.