Monday"s stock market collapses in Asia and Europe after China retaliated to steep US tariffs revived memories of similar market turmoil after the Covid pandemic and the last global financial crisis.
Analysts called the falls "historic" and some even described it as a "bloodbath", recalling previous collapses since the start of the last century.
On March 12, 2020—the day after the announcement—Paris fell 12 percent, Madrid 14 percent and Milan 17 percent. London dropped 11 percent and New York 10 percent in the worst fall since 1987.
Further falls came over the following days, with US indexes dropping more than 12 percent.
The rapid response by national governments, which dug deep to keep their economies afloat, helped most markets rebound within months.
When borrowers became unable to pay their mortgages, millions lost their homes, the stock market crashed and the banking system buckled, culminating with the dramatic bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers.
From January to October that year, the world"s main stock markets fell between 30 and 50 percent.
From a record 5,048.62 points on March 10, 2000, the US tech-heavy Nasdaq index lost 39.3 percent in value over the year.
Many internet startups went out of business.
The Dow Jones index lost 22.6 percent, causing panic on markets worldwide.
Stocks recouped most lost ground during the day but the rot set in: October 28 and 29 also saw huge losses in a crisis that marked the beginning of the Great Depression in the United States and a global economic crisis.
First Published: Apr 08, 2025, 10:41
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