What was the name of the 1989 U.S. stock-market crash linked to the collapse of leveraged buyout financing?

The 1989 U.S. stock-market crash linked to the collapse of leveraged buyout financing was called the Friday the 13th mini-crash.

On Friday, October 13, 1989, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 190.58 points, or about 6.9%. The immediate trigger was the collapse of a proposed leveraged buyout of United Airlines. Investors had expected financing for the transaction, but the deal failed when a key investment group withdrew.

The episode reflected broader concern about highly leveraged acquisitions and the market for below-investment-grade bonds, often called junk bonds. Because those bonds helped finance corporate takeovers, weakness in that market threatened the wider merger-and-acquisition system.

The crash was much smaller than the 1987 Black Monday collapse, but its timing gave it a memorable name. It is also sometimes described as a mini-crash rather than a full-scale financial crisis because the market’s disruption was relatively brief.