S&P 500 · January 17, 1991

The day the war started and shares rose

+3.73%

single-day change vs previous close

Part of a longer stretch

The Gulf War relief rally

near the end of it · 1990-10-11 → 1991-02-13, +24.90% over the whole period

What happened that day?

The S&P 500 rose 3.73% on the day, when coalition forces began bombing Iraq
War starting looks like a reason for shares to fall, and they rose instead. What had pressed on the market for six months was not the war but not knowing when or how
Once the early fighting was seen to be one-sided, oil fell close to a third in a single day
Cheaper oil lowers company costs and leaves households more to spend — a direct help to an economy in recession
The rebound ran to February, and the US recession itself ended that spring
The pattern repeats here: the deepest falls come while things are uncertain and are given back once the event arrives

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.