Which U.S. stock index lost nearly 89% from its 1929 peak to its 1932 low?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nearly 89% from its 1929 peak to its 1932 low.

The Dow reached a pre-crash closing high of 381.17 on September 3, 1929. It eventually fell to 41.22 on July 8, 1932, a decline of about 89%. The collapse became the best-known market measure of the financial disaster associated with the Great Depression.

The crash itself unfolded over several dramatic sessions in October 1929, including Black Thursday on October 24 and Black Tuesday on October 29. The market decline continued long after those dates, so the 1929 crash and the broader bear market are related but not identical events.

The Dow measures a price-weighted group of major U.S. companies, and its composition has changed substantially since 1929. The S&P 500 did not yet exist in its modern form, while the Nasdaq Composite was created decades later. Recovery to the Dow’s 1929 high took until 1954.