Which U.S. stock index fell 45% during the 1973–1974 bear market?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 45% during the 1973–1974 bear market.

The decline began amid economic and political pressures that included the 1973 oil crisis, high inflation, slowing growth, and the Watergate scandal. In October 1973, Arab oil producers imposed an embargo on countries supporting Israel, helping send oil prices sharply higher. Rising energy costs damaged corporate profits and intensified inflation.

The Dow reached a peak in January 1973 and then entered a prolonged decline. It finally reached its bear-market low on December 6, 1974. The fall was one of the largest sustained U.S. market declines since the Great Depression.

The figure is often rounded because sources use slightly different peak and trough calculations. This bear market is also sometimes described as the 1973–1974 stock-market crash, although the decline unfolded over nearly two years rather than in a single trading session.