Which market crash began in 1973 and continued through 1974, cutting major stock indexes in the United States and Britain?

The market crash that began in 1973 and continued through 1974 was the 1973–1974 stock market crash.

The decline followed years of rising inflation, the collapse of the Bretton Woods monetary system, economic weakness, and political uncertainty. The 1973 oil crisis then sharply increased energy costs after the Yom Kippur War, adding to inflation and recession fears. In the United States, the Watergate scandal further damaged investor confidence.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost about 45 percent from its January 1973 peak to its December 1974 low. Britain’s FT 30 also suffered a major fall. The crash was part of a broader period of stagflation, in which economies experienced both weak growth and high inflation. It is sometimes confused with the 1970 bear market, but the 1973–1974 episode was longer and closely connected to the oil shock and the recession that followed.