Which 1989 event caused a one-day 6.9% fall in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on 13 October?

The Friday the 13th mini-crash caused a one-day 6.9% fall in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on 13 October 1989.

The decline followed the collapse of a proposed leveraged buyout of United Airlines’ parent company. Investors became concerned that the failure reflected wider problems in corporate finance, particularly the market for high-yield bonds used to fund takeovers.

The Dow fell 190.58 points, then the largest point decline in its history, although percentage comparisons make the 1987 crash much more severe. The event occurred only two years after Black Monday, so observers closely watched whether it would develop into another worldwide panic.

It did not become a repeat of 1987. The market stabilized, and the episode remained a sharp but short-lived mini-crash. The name refers to the calendar date rather than to a specific company or trading mechanism. It is also sometimes called the 1989 Friday the 13th crash.