Crashes hold lesson for central banks: keep markets at arm's length

TOKYO -- On Oct. 19, 1987, the U.S. stock market crashed in what would come to be known as Black Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 22%, surpassing the panic of 1929.

It was the first stock crash I had experienced as a financial reporter. Nikkei's U.S. headquarters called an emergency meeting, and I was assigned to handle markets besides equities, where I learned the term "flight to quality" as Treasury bonds and precious metals soared.