S&P 500 · December 1, 2008
The day the recession was confirmed
-8.93%
single-day change vs previous close
Part of a longer stretch
The Global Financial Crisis bear market
near the end of it · 2007-10-09 → 2009-03-09, -56.78% over the whole period
What happened that day?
- On 1 December 2008 the S&P 500 fell 8.93% in a single day
- That day the body that dates US business cycles announced the recession had begun back in December 2007
- In other words the country had been in recession for a full year and nobody had been able to confirm it
- Recession calls always arrive late because they wait for the data. Confirmation still forces earnings forecasts down
- Manufacturing figures and car sales released the same day were badly weak, deepening the fall
- A big rally the previous week made the give-back larger. The actual low came in March 2009
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.