Hunt for Black October- Image II

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which records the performance of 30 large stocks that uncannily reflect the U.S. market as a whole, went nowhere for six years in the late 1970s, then slid to 777 in August 1982. With the better monetary policy, the Dow began to rise powerfully in what was, at the time, America's greatest bull market. The peak came at 2722 on August 25, 1987. Over the next two months, storm clouds gathered, and, as this chart shows, the week before the October 19 crash was one of spectacularly rising volume and spectacularly falling prices. Then came a one-day drop equivalent to a loss of 3,000 points today.

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