2024 Stock Market Crash

Submission 5,057

Overview

The 2024 Stock Market Crash refers to memes and jokes about various notable stocks crashing around the world in early August 2024, reportedly due to concerns about a possible recession in the U.S., as well as the possibility that the Israel-Hamas conflict could widen. This includes Japan's stock market crash (Nikkei 225) and the European stock market falling, as well as the fall in cryptocurrency prices in early August 2024. Notably, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger posted an excerpt from the Bible to Twitter / X, causing many to joke about what it means for the markets for CEOs to post scripture online.

Background

Intel Stock Falls

On August 3rd, 2024, Intel Corp.'s stock fell 26 percent, with the company losing over $30 billion after Intel understood massive layoffs and slashed expenses (news coverage shown below).^[2]

Japan's Nikkei Index Crashes and Asian Markets Falling

Japan's benchmark stock index, the Nikkei 224, fell by 12 percent on August 5th, 2024, marking the biggest single-day fall since the Black Monday crash of 1987. The news was followed by discussions about a global stock market rout, with Korea's Kospi falling by 9 percent and similar share indices in Australia, Hong Kong, and China dropping heavily.

ABC News Australia covered the story on YouTube^[1] on August 5th (local time), gathering over 22,000 views in a day (seen below).

U.S. and European Stock Markets Falling

On August 2nd, 2024, reports emerged that far fewer jobs had been added by employers than economists predicted in the U.S. and that unemployment had jumped to 4.3 percent as hiring slowed in July.^[8] Following the jobs report, worries began to rise that the Federal Reserve kept interest rates too high for too long, reportedly raising the risk of a recession in the U.S. Financial markets dipped that day but fell considerably further on August 5th as markets reopened after the weekend around the world.

On August 5th, 2024, European markets opened lower, with Germany's DAX reportedly down 2.3 percent, the CAC 40 in Paris down 1.9 percent and the FTSE 100 in London down 2.1 percent.^[9] That day, ABC News uploaded coverage of the stock market plunges around the globe to its YouTube channel, receiving over 12,000 views in three hours (shown below).

Online Reactions

Reactions to the reports of stock markets crashing or dipping around the world spread online in early August 2024. For example, on August 4th, 2024, Redditor /u/Suspicious-Bad4703 posted a graph to the subreddit /r/wallstreetbets ^[3] showing Japan's stock market crash, gathering over 9,000 upvotes in a day (seen below).

On August 5th, 2024, the X^[4] account @TrumpDailyPosts reposted a Truth Social post by Donald Trump in which he wrote, "STOCK MARKETS ARE CRASHING, JOBS NUMBERS ARE TERRIBLE, WE ARE HEADING TO WORLD WAR lll, AND WE HAVE TWO OF THE MOST INCOMPETENT 'LEADERS' IN HISTORY. THIS IS NOT GOOD!!!"

Also on August 5th, 2024, X^[10] user @BRICSinfo posted an image showing the nearly $2 Trillion loss suffered by the U.S. Stock markets on Monday, gathering over 8,000 likes in a day (seen below).

Various /r/wallstreetbets users reported that their preferred trading and investment apps were operational on August 5th, as seen in a post by /u/holyother_^[11] where they report being unable to log into their trading apps entirely.

Intel CEO Posting Bible Verses

On August 4th, 2024, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger^[5] posted a tweet that read, "'Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways' Proverbs 4:25-26," gathering over 2,000 retweets and 10,000 likes in a day (seen below).

The post led to various X users joking about the Intel CEO posting "scripture" after the stock markets crash, as seen in posts by X^[6]^[7] users @Txp_RBI_Xctuxl and @datnofact (seen below, left and right).