anniversary of the 1987 crash

I was too young to remember any of that, but if you are in your 60's you probably have some great stories of that day!

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-41685002


Black Monday 1987: 'Our jaws hit the desk'
By Joshua Cheetham & Daniele Palumbo

Thirty years ago investors were stunned as global stock markets collapsed like a chain of dominos.

The day became known as Black Monday as months and years of share price rises were reversed in a single day of trading.

One dealer recalls being so stunned "jaws were hitting the desk".

In August 1987, every major US index hit record highs. But in Autumn of that year investors began selling - and - by October, at a rapid rate.

Pessimism appeared to be setting in the days running up to Monday 19 October.

Both the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 had lost more than 9% over the week by the time markets closed on Friday 16 October.

That loss had Asian investors playing catch-up when they opened for business on Monday.

And as more markets opened, that selling activity in Asia sparked more selling in Europe, leaving the US playing catch-up with the losses it had originally inspired.

By the end of the day, the Dow Jones had fallen by more than 20% and the UK's FTSE 100 by 11%.

It ended up as the steepest crash since 1929.

"Our mouths were wide open, our jaws were hitting the desk," says Peter Borish, who at the time was second in command at Tudor Investment Corp, a US hedge fund.

Tudor was one of the few firms to predict the crash and ended up turning a profit by innovative use of computer modelling.

"Fear always trumps greed and fear was at its maximum point then, so when people are fearful rationality goes out the door and they just start selling."

 

Hitting middle age there pretty fast!