2. The Crash of 1929: the Great DepressionOct. 28, 1929Dow’s Performance that year. -17.2%On Oct. 28, 1929, The Wall Street Journal’s main headline read: ''Industrials off 38.33'' -- meaning the Dow had plunged 12.82%. The following day the average fell anoter30.57 points, or 11.73%. The two-day rout marked the second- and third-largest percentage drops in the average’s history. In six days the industrial average lost more than 96 points, nearly 30% of its value. After hitting 300 on the last day of 1928, the Dow industrials would rally until peaking at 381.17 in September, only to crash the next month. It would not hit 300 again until 1954, 25 years later.
