In 12th-century France, the courtiers de change were concerned with managing and regulating the debts of agricultural communities on behalf of the banks. Because these men also traded with debts, they could be called the first brokers. The Italian historian Lodovico Guicciardini described how, in late 13th-century Bruges, commodity traders gathered outdoors at a market square containing an inn owned by a family called Van der Beurze, and in 1409 they became the "Brugse Beurse", institutionalizing what had been, until then, an informal meeting.[18] The idea quickly spread around Flanders and neighboring countries and "Beurzen" soon opened in Ghent and Rotterdam. International traders, and specially the Italian bankers, present in Bruges since the early 13th-century, took back the word in their countries to define the place for stock market exchange: first the Italians (Borsa), but soon also the French (Bourse), the Germans (börse), Russians (birža), Czechs (burza), Swedes (börs), Danes and Norwegians (børs). In most languages the word coincides with that for money bag, dating back to the Latin bursa, from which obviously also derives the name of the Van der Beurse family. In the middle of the 13th century, Venetian bankers began to trade in government securities. In 1351 the Venetian government outlawed spreading rumors intended to lower the price of government funds. Bankers in Pisa, Verona, Genoa and Florence also began trading in government securities during the 14th century. This was only possible because these were independent city-states not ruled by a duke but a council of influential citizens. Italian companies were also the first to issue shares. Companies in England and the Low Countries followed in the 16th century. Around this time, a joint stock company—one whose stock is owned jointly by the shareholders—emerged and became important for colonization of what Europeans called the "New World".[19]
1929Edit
One of the most famous stock market crashes started October 24, 1929, on Black Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 50% during this stock market crash. It was the beginning of the Great Depression.
1987Edit
Another famous crash took place on October 19, 1987 – Black Monday. The crash began in Hong Kong and quickly spread around the world.
By the end of October, stock markets in Hong Kong had fallen 45.5%, Australia 41.8%, Spain 31%, the United Kingdom 26.4%, the United States 22.68%, and Canada 22.5%. Black Monday itself was the largest one-day percentage decline in stock market history – the Dow Jones fell by 22.6% in a day. The names "Black Monday" and "Black Tuesday" are also used for October 28–29, 1929, which followed Terrible Thursday—the starting day of the stock market crash in 1929.
The crash in 1987 raised some puzzles – main news and events did not predict the catastrophe and visible reasons for the collapse were not identified. This event raised questions about many important assumptions of modern economics, namely, the theory of rational human conduct, the theory of market equilibrium and the efficient-market hypothesis. For some time after the crash, trading in stock exchanges worldwide was halted, since the exchange computers did not perform well owing to enormous quantity of trades being received at one time. This halt in trading allowed the Federal Reserve System and central banks of other countries to take measures to control the spreading of worldwide financial crisis. In the United States the SEC introduced several new measures of control into the stock market in an attempt to prevent a re-occurrence of the events of Black Monday.
2007-2009Edit
This marked the beginning of the Great Recession. Starting in 2007 and lasting through 2009, financial markets experienced one of the sharpest declines in decades. It was more widespread than just the stock market as well. The housing market, lending market, and even global trade experienced unimaginable decline. Sub-prime lending led to the housing bubble bursting and was made famous by movies like The Big Short where those holding large mortgages were unwittingly falling prey to lenders. This saw banks and major financial institutions completely fail in many cases and took major government intervention to remedy during the period. From October 2007 to March 2009, the S&P 500 fell 57% and wouldn't recover to its 2007 levels until April 2013.
2020Edit
The 2020 stock market crash was a major and sudden global stock market crash that began on 20 February 2020 and ended on 7 April. This market crash was due to the sudden outbreak of the global pandemic - COVID-19, which ended with a new deal that had a positive impact on the market.[46]
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