S&P 500 · October 27, 2011
The day Greek debt was written down
+3.43%
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 27 October 2011 the S&P 500 rose 3.43%
- Overnight, a European summit had agreed three things: cut Greek debt by close to half, recapitalise the banks, and enlarge the rescue fund
- Cutting debt means creditors accept a loss. Europe had avoided that choice until then
- The market rose because a decision long postponed had finally been made
- The agreement lacked specifics, though, and things wobbled again within weeks
- The real turning point came the following July, in a sentence from the central bank's head
- In this stretch the index was 18.77% 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.