In the wake of the United Kingdom vote to leave the European Union, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged about 610 points Friday, the eighth-worst daily point loss in its history.
The last time the stock market faced turmoil this large was August 2015, due to issues with the Chinese economy. That month, the Dow Jones posted two of what we’re then it’s 10 worst daily point losses in history, as well as its third-best daily point gain.
The largest point loss in history remains Sept. 29, 2008, when the market dropped 778 points. Only one of the 10 worst daily losses occurred before 2000.
While the 610-point loss is concerning, it’s more revealing to compare historical daily lossees by the percentage of the market lost. By this standard, Friday’s drop of 3.4 percent isn’t so bad, historically speaking. The drop would have had to be more than twice as large to come in the worst-10 daily percentage losses.
The worst percentage loss in history came on Oct. 19, 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 22.6 percent. The 10th-worst loss came on July 21, 1933, when the market dropped by 7.84 percent.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
