S&P 500 · November 30, 2011
The day six central banks moved together
+4.33%
single-day change vs previous close
Part of a longer stretch
After 'whatever it takes'
early in it · 2011-10-03 → 2013-03-28, +42.75% over the whole period
What happened that day?
- On 30 November 2011 the S&P 500 rose 4.33%
- Six central banks including the Fed jointly reduced the cost of borrowing dollars
- European banks being unable to obtain dollars was the most urgent problem. They held dollar assets while funding in euros
- Without dollars they had to sell assets, and prices collapsed. This cut that loop
- That six announced together on the same day was itself the signal — no one would go it alone
- China cut bank reserve requirements the same day
- In this stretch the index was 14.59% below its peak
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 written from the sources listed above.