Which 1973–74 stock-market crash is associated with the collapse of the Bretton Woods monetary system?

The 1973–1974 stock-market crash was the major market collapse associated with the breakdown of the Bretton Woods monetary system.

The crash unfolded amid inflation, slowing economic growth, currency instability, and the 1973 oil crisis. Bretton Woods had linked major currencies to the U.S. dollar, with the dollar convertible into gold for official holders. President Richard Nixon ended that convertibility in 1971, and the system’s remaining fixed exchange-rate framework broke down in the early 1970s.

The oil embargo announced by OPEC members in October 1973 sharply raised energy costs and worsened inflationary pressure. In the United States, the S&P 500 fell about 48% from its January 1973 peak to its October 1974 low, while the Dow also suffered a prolonged decline.

The crash is sometimes labeled only the “1974 crash,” but the downturn began in 1973 and reached its low in 1974. It was a bear market shaped by monetary, energy, geopolitical, and economic forces together.