Wall Street’s frigid Inauguration Day

Why the markets tanked as Obama became president

What happened

As Barack Obama was sworn in as president, U.S. markets plummeted. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 4 percent, to 7,949—the index’s worst Inauguration Day on record—the S&P 500 dropped 5.3 percent, and the Nasdaq fell 5.8 percent. Bank stocks led the decline, prompted by a massive British bank bailout and worse-than-expected earnings at Boston-based State Street Corp. (Los Angeles Times)

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us