Which 1989 crash saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average fall 190.58 points in a single session?

The Friday the 13th mini-crash saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average fall 190.58 points in a single session.

The event occurred on Friday, October 13, 1989. The Dow’s 190.58-point decline was about 6.9%, a very large one-day move at the time. The selling was linked partly to the collapse of a proposed leveraged buyout of United Airlines’ parent company, UAL Corporation.

Investors also worried about market structure, debt-financed acquisitions, and the effects of program trading. The episode came only two years after Black Monday in 1987, so the sharp fall revived fears that another systemic crash might be developing.

The mini-crash did not produce the same prolonged global panic as 1987. Its name comes from the calendar date, not from a technical market classification. It should also be distinguished from Black Friday in 1869, an earlier U.S. gold-market panic involving Jay Gould and James Fisk.