Which 1973–1974 global stock-market crash followed the oil shock and the end of the postwar boom?

The global stock-market crash of 1973–1974 followed the oil shock and the end of the postwar boom. It was a prolonged bear market affecting major exchanges rather than a single trading-day collapse.

The Yom Kippur War began in October 1973, after which Arab members of OPEC imposed an oil embargo on countries supporting Israel. Oil prices rose sharply, contributing to inflation, slower economic growth, and pressure on corporate profits. At the same time, many economies were already facing monetary tightening and structural problems.

In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell heavily from its January 1973 high to its December 1974 low. The crisis is often discussed alongside the term “stagflation,” which describes the difficult combination of weak growth and high inflation. It is distinct from the 1970s oil crises as a whole: the stock crash was one financial consequence of a broader economic and geopolitical shock.