39 YEARS AGO TODAY, THE DOW FELL 22.6% IN A SINGLE DAY
Black Monday, Oct. 19, 1987
The Dow Jones fell 508 points, closing at 1,738.74. It's still the worst one-day percentage drop in the index's history.
Traders worked through lunch trying to keep up with record volume. "It looks like a madhouse," one told CBS News.
A 22.6% drop today would wipe out roughly 11,750 points.
The crash is the reason the market has circuit breakers today. And investors who held on were rewarded. The Dow was back above its pre-crash level within about two years, and it closed at 52,002 on Friday, roughly 30 times its Black Monday close.