In the wake of the U.S. House of Representatives' 228-205 rejection of the Bush administration's $700 billion bailout bill, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 778 points. It was the largest one-day drop in history, though in terms of market percentage lost, it failed to approach the calamitous crashes of 1987, 1929, and 1914.
—Alex Altman & Frances Romero
544 points (7.2%)
Sometimes dubbed the "mini-crash," this massive Dow loss came amid troubles in the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index, which fell 6% in trading. The Dow was actually forced to close 30 minutes early, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission, because it had reached the "circuit-breaker level" before the normal 4 p.m. Wall Street close.
