Titanic times in history

 1929: The Great Depression

In the worst crash in US history, the Dow Jones plunged 25pc in four days, starting on Oct 24. The Dow’s descent continued until July 1932, by when it was nearly 90pc below 1929 highs.

1987: Black Monday

The Dow dropped 22.6pc in a single trading session.

 2000: The Tech Bubble The tech-heavy Nasdaq index fell by 78pc. Former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan famously dismissed the stock market bubble as “irrational exuberance”.

 2007/8: The Great Recession The most recent titanic moment. It came to a head on Sept 29 2008 when the Dow plunged 777.68 points in intraday trading. Two weeks earlier, the US had allowed Lehman Brothers to go bankrupt.