Which oil shock helped trigger the 1973–1974 stock market crash?

The 1973 oil crisis helped trigger the 1973–1974 stock market crash.

In October 1973, Arab members of OPEC announced an oil embargo against countries supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Oil prices rose sharply, creating inflation, energy shortages, and fears of a deep economic slowdown in industrial countries. The resulting combination of stagnant growth and high inflation became known as stagflation.

The stock-market decline also reflected monetary tightening, political uncertainty, and weak corporate prospects. In the United States, the S&P 500 fell substantially from its January 1973 peak to its October 1974 low. Other major markets experienced similarly severe losses.

The crash was not caused by the oil embargo alone. It formed part of a broader economic breakdown involving the end of the postwar boom and major inflationary pressures. The episode is often discussed alongside the 1973 recession and the collapse of the Bretton Woods fixed-exchange-rate system, which had ended earlier in the decade.