Which 1970s market crisis followed the 1973 oil shock and produced a major two-year bear market in the United States?

The 1973–1974 stock market crash followed the 1973 oil shock and produced a major two-year bear market in the United States. The decline began amid inflation, recession concerns, political uncertainty, and the economic effects of sharply higher oil prices.

The S&P 500 fell roughly 48% from its January 1973 peak to its October 1974 low. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also experienced a severe decline. The episode affected markets in several countries and formed part of a wider period of stagflation, in which inflation remained high while economic growth weakened.

The oil shock followed the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War. Arab members of OPEC imposed an oil embargo on countries viewed as supporting Israel, while production and pricing decisions contributed to a dramatic increase in oil costs. The stock-market decline had additional causes, including the Watergate crisis and recessionary conditions.

The crash is sometimes reduced to the oil embargo alone, but financial markets were responding to several overlapping shocks. It is distinct from the one-day 1987 crash and from the prolonged collapse that followed 1929.