S&P 500 · September 19, 1974

A bounce ten sessions before the bottom

+3.50%

single-day change vs previous close

Part of a longer stretch

The 1973–74 oil shock bear market

near the end of it · 1973-01-11 → 1974-10-03, -48.20% over the whole period

What happened that day?

19 September 1974 — the S&P 500 rose 3.50%. No single cause for that one day could be pinned down
It was the fourth up-day in a row. Rallies inside a bear market tend to arrive bunched like this
The slide that began with the Middle East oil embargo in late 1973 was not over yet
American inflation was running in double digits. When prices jump, the same earnings get priced lower
The president had resigned in August; his successor was preparing a conference on inflation through September
The bounce did not last. The index hit its episode low ten sessions later, on 3 October
From the June high to the October low the index fell 33.10%

Sources

Every figure on this page is recomputed from the original daily closing prices and checked against them at build time. The account of what happened is put together from the public record; where a specific source was consulted it is listed above.