‘The raw power of collective panic': 25 years on from Black Monday

Twenty-five years ago to this month, financial markets across the world went into freefall on a day that has come to be known as ‘Black Monday'.

The FTSE 100 shed 11% on Monday 19 and 12% on Tuesday 20 October 1987, while the Dow plunged 22.6% in a single day. The losses continued through that week, and by the end of the month most markets had suffered huge falls.   In Asia, where the crisis began, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 40.79% between the close of trading on Friday 16 October and the end of the month. Over the same period, the FTSE lost 23.98%, the Nikkei fell 13.66% and the Dow fell 11.27%. The UK was already reeling from the ‘Great Storm’ three days before, when hurricane-force winds battered the British Isles and di...