CHART - Top 3 U.S. Market Slumps

Double-Click the below Wall Street Journal CHART to see a larger view of the data comparing the 2008 Stock Market Crash to the equally (if not more) painful market crashes of the 1930s and 1970s :


Per the below linked WSJ article:
* A common definition of a market 'Crash' is a 20% decline in a single day or span of several days. For some perspective, the Dow's crash in 1987 was a 22.6% correction in one day. The 1929 crash was punctuated by back-to-back declines of 12.8% and 11.7%.

* U.S. stocks, as measured by the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index, have shed about $2.5 Trillion of market value over the last seven trading sessions (including a loss of $872 Billion in market value on Thursday alone)...According to the WSJ, about $8.4 Trillion of total market value has been wiped out since the 5000 company index hit its all time high one year ago Thursday (10/11/2007).

* The Dow Jones Industrial Average index is Down 39% since hitting a record of 14,164.53 one year ago...The Dow's recent 7 day decline of 21% is the largest seven-session percentage drop since the 1987 crash. During the 1987 crash, the Dow Jones lost 43% over seven days.

* At Thursday's close, the Price To Earnings Ratio (P/E Ratio) of the S+P 500 was down to 10.7, the Lowest since the Early 1980's (hopefully those 2007/08 earnings won't turn out to be 'peak year' earnings)...the market's historical P/E Ratio is 15


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122359593027021243.html


Data Courtesy: The Wall Street Journal