What was the name of the 1973–1974 U.S. stock-market collapse linked to the Watergate era and oil shock?

The 1973–1974 stock market crash was the U.S. collapse linked to the Watergate era, the 1973 oil crisis, inflation, and recession. From its January 1973 peak to its October 1974 low, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost about 45%.

The downturn developed amid the end of the postwar economic expansion. The oil embargo imposed by Arab members of OPEC after the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War sharply increased energy prices. Inflation rose, economic activity weakened, and investor confidence was damaged by political turmoil surrounding Watergate and President Richard Nixon's resignation.

The crash affected markets beyond the United States and was part of a wider period of stagflation. The S&P 500 and other major indexes also suffered large losses, while unemployment and consumer prices rose.

It is sometimes incorrectly labeled only as an oil crash or only as a Watergate crash. Those events mattered, but the decline reflected several connected economic and political pressures. The market bottomed in October 1974 before beginning a long recovery.