Why the Stock Market Collapsed: An Analysis of the Financial Markets, Interest Rates (2009)

On September 16, 2008, failures of massive financial institutions in the United States, due primarily to exposure of securities of packaged subprime loans and credit default swaps issued to insure these loans and their issuers, rapidly devolved into a global crisis resulting in a number of bank failures in Europe and sharp reductions in the value of equities (stock) and commodities worldwide. The failure of banks in Iceland resulted in a devaluation of the Icelandic króna and threatened the government with bankruptcy. Iceland was able to secure an emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund in November.[14] In the United States, 15 banks failed in 2008, while several others were rescued through government intervention or acquisitions by other banks.[15] On October 11, 2008, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the world financial system was teetering on the "brink of systemic meltdown."[16]

The economic crisis caused countries to temporarily close their markets.

On October 8, the Indonesian stock market halted trading, after a 10% drop in one day.

The Times of London reported that the meltdown was being called the Crash of 2008 and older traders were comparing it with Black Monday in 1987. The fall that week of 21 percent was not as large a drop as the 28.3 percent fall 21 years earlier, but some traders were saying it was worse. "At least then it was a short, sharp, shock on one day. This has been relentless all week."[17] Business Week also referred to the crisis as a "stock market crash" or the "Panic of 2008."[18]

Beginning October 6 and lasting all week the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower for all five sessions. Volume levels were also record breaking. The Dow Jones industrial average fell over 1,874 points, or 18%, in its worst weekly decline ever on both a point and percentage basis. The S&P 500 fell more than 20%.[19] The week also set 3 top ten NYSE Group Volume Records with October 8 at #5, October 9 at #10, and October 10 at #1.[20]

It has been noted that recent daily stock market drops are overall nowhere near the severity experienced during the last stock market crash in 1987.[21] Others have suggested that the media is manipulating and over-inflating stock market drops and calling them "crashes" in order to create the perception of a great depression.[22][23]

After having been suspended for three successive trading days, i.e., October 9, October 10, and October 13, the Icelandic stock market reopened on 14 October, with the main index, the OMX Iceland 15, closing at 678.4, which corresponds to a plunge of about 77% compared with the closure at 3,004.6 on October 8. This reflects the fact that the value of the three big banks, which form 73.2 percent of the value of the OMX Iceland 15, had been set to zero.

On October 24, many of the world's stock exchanges experienced the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.[24] In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 3.6%, not falling as much as other markets.[25] Instead, both the US Dollar and Japanese Yen soared against other major currencies, particularly the British Pound and Canadian Dollar, as world investors sought safe havens. Later that day, the deputy governor of the Bank of England, Charles Bean, suggested that "This is a once in a lifetime crisis, and possibly the largest financial crisis of its kind in human history."[26]

By March 6, 2009 the DJIA had dropped 54% to 6,469 (before beginning to recover) from its peak of 14,164 on October 9, 2007, over a span of 17 months.

There are three thresholds, each of which represent different levels of decline in terms of points in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. These are computed at the beginning of each quarter to establish a specific point value for the quarter. For example, in the second quarter of 2011, threshold 1 was a drop of 1200 points, threshold 2 was 2400 points, and threshold 3 was 3600 points.[30] If threshold 2 is breached before 1 p.m., the market would close for two hours. If such a decline took place between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., there would be a one-hour pause. The market would close for the day if stocks sank to that level after 2 p.m. In the event where threshold 3 is breached, the market would close for the day, regardless of the time.

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