Nasdaq · September 11, 1986
The biggest point drop anyone had seen, at the time
-3.68%
single-day change vs previous close
Part of a longer stretch
The summer 1986 growth-stock correction
near the end of it · 1986-07-03 → 1986-09-16, -16.42% over the whole period
What happened that day?
- 11 September 1986 — the Nasdaq fell 3.68%. No single cause for that one day could be pinned down
- That day the headline US index posted the largest point drop on record at the time. Index levels were low then, so point records break easily as years pass
- Worry that inflation and rates would turn back up sat underneath it, after a stretch of fast gains
- Around this period, computers trading large volumes on fixed rules were becoming common. Once prices move one way, orders pile in that direction
- Tokyo fell the next day, and harder five sessions later. A case of a shock spreading on a delay
- From the early-July high to the mid-September low the index fell 16.42%
- US stocks rose a great deal over 1986 as a whole. This decline ended as a correction inside that
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.