1987
Total commercial banking institutions: 13,685 (45,498 branches; 59,203 offices)
Total employees: 1.54 million
Average return on equity: 1.49%
Federal funds rate: 6.77% (Avg. 30-year mortgage rate: 10.61%; Avg. 48-month car loan rate: 10.86%)
Failed banks: 217 (Total losses: $1.9 billion)
After a rapid recovery in the mid-'80s from the decade鈥檚 earlier recession, the New York Stock Exchange crashes hard on Oct. 19, 1987鈥攁 day that will go down in U.S. history as 鈥淏lack Monday.鈥� Within one day, the NYSE . The worldwide banking event leads to (also known as 鈥渃ircuit breakers鈥�) which will allow exchanges to pause trading in extraordinary cases of large price declines.
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