Nasdaq · July 8, 1974

A summer of inflation and scandal (Nasdaq)

-3.55%

single-day change vs previous close

Part of a longer stretch

The oil shock and the Nasdaq

near the end of it · 1973-01-11 → 1974-10-03, -59.90% over the whole period

What happened that day?

8 July 1974 — the Nasdaq fell 3.55% to close at 70.96. No single cause can be pinned to the day
Inflation in the United States was running in double digits that year. When prices jump, the same profit is priced lower
At the same time a political crisis was running towards a presidential resignation, which came a month later
The decline that began with the Middle Eastern embargo the previous winter was still going
An index full of small companies swings harder in such a stretch. Thin trading moves the price further on the same sell order
From the mid-March high to the 3 October low the index fell 43.16%
The bear market ended that winter. From early the next year the move went the other way, fast

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.