inflections

This page highlights financial inflection points - the systemic financial crises, panics and collapses that mark the end of periods of economic exuberance (or merely of sustained growth).

It covers -

• early modern states
• the age of steam
• globalisation in the belle epoque
• after Bretton Woods
• contemporary inflections
• some indicators

     early modern states

1557 State bankruptcy (Spain and France)

1607 Spain bankrupt

1614 Bankruptcy (Augsburg)

1637 end of Netherlands 'tulip' bubble

1720 Mississippi crisis in France

1720 South Sea Bubble crisis in England

1763 Amsterdam Crisis in Netherlands

1772 collapse of Ayr Bank in Scotland precipitates British banking crisis

1793 Market Crash in UK

1799 Market Crash in Hamburg

1810 Market Crash in UK

1811 Austria bankrupt

1816 Market Crash in UK

1818 Market Crash in US

1825 'Latin American' Crash in UK

1827 Market Crash in France

     the age of steam

1836 Market Crash in UK

1837 Market Crash in France and U

1847 Market Crash in UK

1848 Market Crash in Germany

1857 Lombard Street banking crisis in UK

1857 Market Crash in France, US and Germany

1864 Market Crash in France

1866 Overend, Gurney banking crisis in UK (Overend, Gurney owes £4.1m at time when national budget is £67.8m)

1866 Market Crash in Italy

1869 Black Friday in US

1873 Market Crash in Germany and Austria, Panic of 1873 in US

1882 Market Crash in France

     globalisation in the belle epoque

1890 'Barings' Crash in UK

1893 Land Boom Crash in Australia

1893 'Silver Crash' in US

1907 Market Crash in France and Italy

1907 '1907 Panic' in US

1921 Market Crash in UK and US

1922 Swedish bank crisis

1927 'Black Friday' in Germany and Brazil

1929 Wall Street 'Great Crash' in US

1931 Market Crash in UK, Germany, Austria, Japan

     after Bretton Woods

1958 Market Panic in France

1961 property crash in Australia

1962 Crash in Canada

1963 Crash in Italy

1964 Market Panic in UK

1967 'Transistor' Crash in US

1968 Crash in France

1971 MinSec Panic in Australia

1973 Wall St crash in US

1979 Market Crisis in US

     contemporary inflections

1987 Market Crash in US, UK, Australia

1990 Market Panic in Japan

1994 Market Crash in Mexico

1997 'South East Asian Crisis' - Panic in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, S Korea, Russia, Brazil

2000 Dot Com and Telecommunications Crash

2008 global subprime crisis

     some indicators

A sense of relativities is provided by the following figures on declines in US indices -

Percentage decline in Dow Jones industrials

Apr through May 1932 - 39%
Mar through Apr 1932 - 31%
Oct through Nov 1929 - 30%
Oct through Nov 1987 - 29%
Aug through Sep 1931 - 29%
Sep through Oct 1929 - 28%
Sep through Oct 2008 - 27%
Nov through Dec 1931 - 26%
Apr through May 1931 - 25%
Sep through Oct 1987 - 25%

Percentage decline in Standard & Poor's 500

Apr through May 1932 - 39%
Sep through Oct 2008 - 32%
Mar through Apr 1932 - 30%
Aug through Sep 1931 - 29%
Oct through Nov 1987 - 28%
Sep through Oct 1931 - 25%
May through Jun 1932 - 24%
April through May 1940 - 24%
Sep through Oct 1929 - 24%
Sep through Oct 1987 - 24%

Percentage decline in Nasdaq composite

Feb through Mar 2001 - 34%
Sep through Oct 2008 - 34%
Oct through Nov 1987 - 31%
Oct through Nov 2000 - 29%
Sep through Oct 1987 - 29%
Nov through Dec 2000 - 27%
Aug through Sep 2001 - 26%
Apr through May 2000 - 26%
Aug through Sep 1990 - 21%
Jul through Aug 1998 - 21%

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