The eighth largest one-day point drop in DJIA history , and largest at the time , occurred on September 17 , 2001 , the first day of trading after the September 11 , 2001 attacks , when the Dow fell 684.81 points , or 7.1 % . However , the Dow had been in a downward trend for virtually all of 2001 prior to September 11 , losing well over 1000 points between January 2 and September 10 , and had lost 187.51 points on September 6 , followed by losing 235.4 points on September 7 . By the end of that week , the Dow had fallen 1,369.70 points , or 14.3 % . However , the Dow began an upward trend shortly after the attacks , and quickly regained all lost ground to close above the 10,000 level for the year
September 11 , 2001 attacks
September 11 attacks
Dow Jones Industrial Average