Which 1973–1974 crash cut the Dow Jones Industrial Average by about 45% during an oil shock and recession?

The 1973–1974 stock market crash cut the Dow Jones Industrial Average by about 45%.

The bear market began in January 1973 and reached its low in December 1974. It unfolded alongside high inflation, slowing economic growth, and the 1973 oil crisis. After the Yom Kippur War, members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries restricted oil supplies to states supporting Israel, and oil prices rose sharply.

The crash also followed the collapse of the postwar economic environment known as the Bretton Woods system. In the United States, the Watergate scandal and President Richard Nixon’s resignation added political uncertainty. Britain and several other markets experienced major declines during the same broad period.

This event is distinct from the 1970 recession-related market weakness and from the 1987 Black Monday crash. The 1973–1974 episode lasted nearly two years, making it a prolonged bear market rather than a single trading-day collapse. Its combination of inflation and weak growth is often associated with the term stagflation.