buyout, can be questioned since the market was already down substan-
tially on very little news before the collapse was announced.
War is usually the biggest market mover. But the market drop on
September 17, 2001, was more than twice the 3.5 percent drop that oc-
curred on the day following the attack on Pearl Harbor, and it was more
than that of any other one-day decline during a period when the United
States was officially at war.CHAPTER 13 When World Events Impact Financial Markets 225
TABLE 13–1b
Largest News-Related Movements in the Down Jones Industrial Average (Negative Changes Are
Boldface)Rank Date Change
2 Oct 6, 1931 14 .87%
10 Feb 11, 1932 9 .47%
11 Nov 14, 1929 9 .36%
14 May 6, 1932 9 .08%
15 Apr 19, 1933 9 .03%
24 Sep 5, 1939 7 .26%
25 Feb 1, 1917 -7.24%
26 Oct 27, 1997 -7.18%
28 Sep 17, 2001 -7.13%
33 Oct 13, 1989 -6.91%
34 Jul 30, 1914 -6.90%
38 May 14, 1940 -6.80%
40 May 21, 1940 -6.78%
42 Jun 20, 1931 6 .64%
44 Jul 26, 1934 -6.62%
46 Sep 26, 1955 -6.54%
51 Jul 26, 1893 -6.31%
65 Oct 31, 1929 5 .82%
66 Jun 16, 1930 -5.81%
67 Apr 20, 1933 5 .80%
73 May 2, 1898 5 .64%
76 Mar 28, 1898 5 .56%
85 Dec 22, 1916 5 .47%
88 Dec 18, 1896 -5.42%
89 Feb 25, 1933 -5.40%
93 Oct 23, 1933^5 .37%
95 Dec 21, 1916 -5.35%
104 Apr 9, 1938 5 .25%
125 Oct 20, 1931 5 .03%
126 Mar 31, 1932 -5.02%News Headline
Hoover Urges $500M Pool to Help Banks
Liberalization of Fed discount policy
Fed Lowers Discount Rate/Tax Cut Proposed
U.S. Steel Negotiates 15% Wage Cut
U.S. Drops Gold Standard
World War II Begins in Europe
Germany announces unrestricted submarine warfare
Attack on Hong Kong Dollar
World Trade Center and Pentagon Terrorist Attacks
United Airline Buy-out Collapses
Outbreak of World War I
Germans Invade Holland
Allied Reverses in France
Hoover Advocates Foreign Debt Moratorium
Fighting in Austria; Italy mobilizes
Eisenhower Suffers Heart Attack
Erie Railroad Bankrupt
Fed Lowers Discount Rate
Hoover to Sign Tariff Bill
Continued Rally on Dropping of Gold Standard
Dewey Defeats Spanish
Dispatches of Armistice with Spain
Lansing Denies U.S. Near War
Senate votes for Free Cuba
Maryland Bank Holiday
Roosevelt Devalues Dollar
Sec. of State Lansing implies U.S. Near War
Congress Passes Bill Taxing U.S. Government Bond Interest
ICC Raises Rail Rates
House Proposes Stock Sales Tax