What Led to the Stock Market Crash in 2008? Several things led to the 2008 Stock Market Crash, one being that there were the high subprime mortgages that were given. The Federal National Mortgage Association, better known as Fannie Mae began to focus on making home loans more accessible in 1999. By doing this, the borrowers are considered high-risk and their mortgages had unorthodox loan terms that caused higher rates and payments. This seemed to be a great idea in the beginning, but there were red flags. “Bob Prechter, founder of Elliot Wave International, consistently argued that the out-of-control mortgage market was a threat to the U.S. economy as the whole industry was dependent on ever-increasing property values.” (Kosakowski, 2008) …show more content…
By the time March 2007 came around, you had the failure of Bear Stearns because of their hand in underwriting a multitude of the investments tools that were linked precisely to the subprime mortgage market and it became apparent that the whole subprime lending market was in danger. “Homeowners were defaulting at high rates as all of the creative variations of subprime mortgages were resetting to higher payments while home prices declined. Homeowners were upside down - they owed more on their mortgages than their homes were worth - and could no longer just flip their way out of their homes if they couldn 't make the new, higher payments. Instead, they lost their homes to foreclosure and often filed for bankruptcy in the process.” (Kosakowski, 2008) The Stock Market Crash of 2008 The financial market continued to rise however and in to October 2007 despite everything that happened. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) reached a closing high of 14,164 on October 09, 2007. “The turmoil eventually caught up, and by December 2007 the United States had fallen into a recession. By early July 2008, the Dow Jones Industrial Average would trade below 11,000 for the first time in over two years. That would not be the end of the decline.” (Kosakowski, …show more content…
In addition, AIG, a leading financial company, downgraded its credit because of underwriting more credit derivative contracts than it could actually pay off. So on September 18, 2008, talks of a government bailout began. This send the Dow up 410 points and the following day Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson recommended that the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) of as much as one trillion dollars be accessible to acquire the harmful debt to prevent a complete financial meltdown. “Also on this day, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiated a temporary ban on short selling the stocks of financial companies, believing this would stabilize the markets. The markets surged on the news and investors sent the Dow up 456 points to an intraday high of 11,483, finally closing up 361 at 11,388. These highs would prove to be of historical importance as the financial markets were about to undergo three weeks of complete turmoil.” (Kosakowski,
Just as the great depression, a booming economy had been experienced before the global financial crisis. The economy was growing at a faster rtae bwteen 2001 and 2007 than in any other period in the last 30 years (wade 2008 p23). An vast amount of subprime mortgages were the backbone to the financial collapse, among several other underlying issues. As with the great depression, there would be a number of factors that caused such a devastating economic
The attacks of 9/11 resulted in history’s longest stock market shut down since the 1930s. The New York Stock Exchange remained closed for six days after the attacks. Furthermore, Davis (2011) reports that upon reopening, the New York Stock Exchange fell almost seven hundred points, the biggest one day loss in history. Additionally, Jackson (2008) reports a 14% decline in the Dow Jones, a loss the Dow still felt almost a year later. But, it was American Airlines and United Airlines that experienced the greatest loss. Following the reopening of the stock market, American experienced a 39% decline and United experienced a 42% decline (Davis, 2011). However in face of discouraging numbers, Jackson (2008) reports that the U.S. markets rebounded second only to Japan, showing the great economic resilience of the U.S. While the stock markets present a bleak outlook immediately following the attacks, the financial loss is far from reassuring.
The United States signaled a new era after the end of World War I. It was an era of hopefulness when many people invested their money that was under the mattresses at home or in the bank into the stock market. People migrated to the prosperous cities with the hopes of finding much better life. In the 1920s, the stock market reputation did not appear to be a risky investment, until 1929.First noticeable in 1925, the stock market prices began to rise as more people invested their money. During 1925 and 1926, the stock prices vacillated but in 1927, it had an upward trend. The stock market boom had started by 1928. The stock market was no longer a long-term investment because the boom changed the investor’s way of thinking (“The Stock Market Crash of 1929”). The Stock Market Crash of 1929 was a mass hysteria because of people investing without any prior knowledge and the after effects that eventually led to the Great Depression.
subprime mortgages were major factors of the collapse of the 2007-2009 economy collapse. All of America suffered from the 2008 recession.
Finally, investors went into “panic mode” on October 24th, 1929, and began trading and dumping their shares, totaling a record of 12.9 million. Of course, following “Black Thursday,” the more well-known “Black Tuesday” ensued as a result of this. Between Black Monday and Black Tuesday, the market lost 24% of its value, and investors bought and traded over 28.9 million stocks. These stocks, now worthless, were used as firewood for some investor’s homes. The Dow Jones Company is perhaps the greatest example for this crash. Dow Jones started at 191 points at the beginning of 1928, then more than doubling to 381 points by September 1929. The crash caused their record 381 points to plummet to less than 41 p...
The Stock Market Crash of 1929 was the most devastating crash in U.S. history. It started on October 24, 1929 and the downfall ended in July 1932. I always wondered what caused this calamity. Before starting this report, I knew basic idea about the crash. It was a time of decline and huge fortunes were lost. Now I can figure out just why.
There wasn’t just a single action or event that sparked the stock market crash. It was a series of bad judgements and choices made by the consumers, over looked by expenses and the era they had just experienced full of wealth and prosperity. Nobody saw this coming, or could even suspect this of happening. Consumers continuously invested in the stock market, leading to over speculation, poor government policies and and all around an unstable economy. Large investors catching wind of a bad outlook and future in the stock market, pulled their money out of the market and went straight to the banks. Because of the crash and its aftermath which revealed serious flaws in American economy, it led up to the Great Depression. The crash caused over 5,000 banks to close and for the many who invested their money only in banks, it was devastating crisis. Farmers started facing tough times when unemployment rates rose. Nobody had the money to pay for the food leaving farm prices dirt cheap, which meant lower income...
The stock market remained closed from September 11th until September 17th, almost a week after the attacks. When the markets re-opened after a weeklong absence, people were uncertain about what the numbers would be at the end of the day. Looking back throughout history, after a traumatic event such as the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the Gulf War, the markets tended to go down at first but after a few months, they would rebound. When the markets closed on September 17th, the numbers were very bleak. “The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 685 points, its biggest point drop in history, ending the day at 8,921. The NASDAQ was also down 116 points, closing at 1,580” (Stock Markets Reopen 1). These numbers also represented the major indexes lowest levels in about three years.
There have been many issues that caused the stock market to crash. One major effect on the Great Depression was the current state of agriculture. The effect from both the Dust Bowl drought and the Great Depression made it hard on farmers in the early 1900’s; it was hard for farmers to produce crops (“The Ultimate AP US History”). Farmers with small businesses were forced to end their profession because of the new economic climate. As the farmers left the business of agriculture, there was less crop to sell the country (Pettinger). With the drop in prices after the war, it was difficult for farmers to stay current with loan payments (Romer and Pells).
I guess most of you’ve heard the words Subprime Crisis again and again on TV when you were a middle school student 6 years ago. You may not know what it was when you were a child.
The recession officially began when the 8 trillion dollar housing bubble burst. (State of Working America, 2012) Prior to that, institutions bundled mortgage debt into derivatives that were sold to financial investors. Derivatives were initially intended to manage risk and to protect against the downside, but the investors used them to take on more risk to maximize their profits and returns. (Zucchi, 2010). The investors bought insurance against losses that might arise from securities so that they could secure their money. Mortgage defaults unexpectedly skyrocketed, which caused securitization and the insurance structure to collapse. (McConnell, Brue, Flynn, 2012). The moral hazard problem arose. The large firm investors thought they were too big for the government to allow them to fail. They had the incentive to make even more risky investment.
Comparing the 1929 Market Crash and the Current Position in the Stock Market During the 1920's, the North American economy was roaring, but this decade would eventually be put to a stop. In October of 1929, the stock market began its steepest decline to this date in history. Many stock market traders and economists believe and pray that it was a one-shot episode never to be repeated. On the other hand, many financial analysts and other economists believe that the current stock markets are in place to repeat the calamitous errors of the 1920's. In this paper, I will analyze the causes of the crash and discuss the possibilities of it re-occurring.
In early 1928 the Dow Jones Average went from a low of 191 early in the year, to a high of 300 in December of 1928 and peaked at 381 in September of 1929. (1929…) It was anticipated that the increases in earnings and dividends would continue. (1929…) The price to earnings ratings rose from 10 to 12 to 20 and higher for the market’s favorite stocks. (1929…) Observers believed that stock market prices in the first 6 months of 1929 were high, while others saw them to be cheap. (1929…) On October 3rd, the Dow Jones Average began to drop, declining through the week of October 14th. (1929…)
The "subprime crises" was one of the most significant financial events since the Great Depression and definitely left a mark upon the country as we remain upon a steady path towards recovering fully. The financial crisis of 2008, became a defining moment within the infrastructure of the US financial system and its need for restructuring. One of the main moments that alerted the global economy of our declining state was the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers on Sunday, September 14, 2008 and after this the economy began spreading as companies and individuals were struggling to find a way around this crisis. (Murphy, 2008) The US banking sector was first hit with a crisis amongst liquidity and declining world stock markets as well. The subprime mortgage crisis was characterized by a decrease within the housing market due to excessive individuals and corporate debt along with risky lending and borrowing practices. Over time, the market apparently began displaying more weaknesses as the global financial system was being affected. With this being said, this brings into question about who is actually to assume blame for this financial fiasco. It is extremely hard to just assign blame to one individual party as there were many different factors at work here. This paper will analyze how the stakeholders created a financial disaster and did nothing to prevent it as the credit rating agencies created an amount of turmoil due to their unethical decisions and costly mistakes.
The subprime mortgage crisis is an ongoing event that is affecting buyers who purchased homes in the early 2000s. The term subprime mortgage refers to the many home loans taken out during a housing bubble occurring on the US coast, from 2000-2005. The home loans were given at a subprime rate, and have now lead to extensive foreclosures on home loans, and people having to leave their homes because they can not afford the payments. (Chote) The cause and effect of this crisis can be broken down into five major reasons.