Which 1973–1974 crash cut the Dow Jones by about 45% amid oil shocks and recession?

The 1973–1974 stock-market crash cut the Dow Jones by about 45% amid oil shocks and recession.

The decline began after the Dow Jones Industrial Average peaked in January 1973 and continued until December 1974. The Dow lost about 45% from its peak to its low, making the episode one of the most severe US bear markets since the Great Depression.

The market was pressured by the 1973 oil crisis, high inflation, recession, political uncertainty, and the Watergate scandal. The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries imposed an oil embargo on several countries in October 1973, and energy prices rose sharply. Higher costs and weaker demand hurt corporate profits and economic growth.

The crash was part of a broader international bear market, not just a Wall Street event. It also followed the end of the Bretton Woods fixed-exchange-rate system and a period of unusually high inflation. The market’s December 1974 low was not permanently exceeded until 1982.