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‘It frightened everyone on Wall Street’ – a memory of Black Monday

A former Goldman Sachs partner recalls what it was like to be surrounded by the panic and losses in the massive liquidity event

Traders look up at screens on Black Monday in New York
Traders look up at screens on Black Monday in New York Photo: NY Daily News / Getty Images

October 19 is the 30th anniversary of “Black Monday,” the great US equities market crash in which the Dow Jones dropped 22.6 %, the largest single day decline then or since, and instantly spread to other markets in the world’s first massive liquidity event.

The event was sparked by the usual suspects – an overvalued five-year bull market (the S&P 500 index was up 44% on the year at its peak in August), some near-the-top volatility, and an early morning panic in Hong Kong that passed through Europe and hit NY like a hurricane.

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