The Crash: A Shock Felt Round the World

Stock markets plummet and climb between "hell and heaven"

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At Fidelity Investments, manager of $75 billion worth of stock-market mutual funds, investors redeeming shares or switching to other funds swamp the firm. The company invokes a rarely used rule that allows seven days for such orders to be transacted.

WASHINGTON, 3:40 P.M.

Howard Baker and his deputy, Kenneth Duberstein, brief Ronald Reagan on the crash. White House Spokesman Marlin Fitzwater is instructed to issue a few calming words: "The underlying economy remains sound."

NEW YORK, 4 P.M.

The Big Board's worst day finally ends. Traders try to assess the damage. It will take them four more hours to process paper work created by the 604 million traded shares, a record. The day's loss of 508 points is another, most unwanted, first.

NEW YORK, 4:20 P.M.

Chairman Phelan declares the selling binge the "nearest thing to a financial meltdown that I ever want to see." Then he tempers his alarm: "These things usually exhaust themselves."

ST. LOUIS, 3:30 P.M.

Elliot Stein, chairman of Stifel Financial Corp., one of the city's largest investment firms, addresses his employees in grim jest: "I would like to open our teleconference by leading you in prayer."

WASHINGTON, 5 P.M.

Reagan, shouting over the roar of a helicopter's blades on the White House grounds, insists, "I don't think anyone should panic because all the economic indicators are solid."

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20

TOKYO, 9 A.M.

In the first half-hour at the exchange, trading stops on all but three of the 250 listed Japanese stocks. "I've never seen anything like this," complains a trader. A downward spiral does not stop until 14.9% is chopped off the value ( of the Nikkei index. It is the worst one-day fall ever, eclipsing the 10% drop set off by the 1953 death of Joseph Stalin.

MILAN, 10 A.M.

Rumors of a shutdown sweep the Palazzo Mezzanotte trading floor as the opening bell fails to ring. Finally the dealing begins, one hour late. As Fiat, Olivetti and other stocks lose 10% of their value, trading is stopped in each.

LONDON, 12:30 P.M.

U.S. investors have cabled sell orders, trying to dump shares in the British market. The Financial Times stock index drops 304 points by midday. Says a young dealer: "It is like opening a suitcase the wrong way and having all the contents spill out."

PARIS, 1:45 P.M.

LE CRASH, headlines the newspaper Le Quotidien, as local share prices stay flat for the day. The government postpones plans to sell shares in Matra, a giant state-owned defense and electronics firm.

WASHINGTON, 9 A.M.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan assures the nation's banks that the Fed will provide fresh funds if needed.

NEW YORK, 9 A.M.

Chemical and Marine Midlandbanks, which had raised their prime rates from 9 1/ 4% to 9 3/4%, roll back the hike.

NEW YORK, NOON

The N.Y.S.E. gyrates so wildly that floor specialists, who normally buy and sell stocks when no one else will, run out of cash. Trading stops in nearly 90 stocks. Exchange Chairman Phelan considers shutting down the entire market, but a sudden 120-point rally stays his hand. For a time, the Dow hovers at 1750.

SAN FRANCISCO, 9 A.M.

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