1979-1980

                  The collapse of the stock market in February and March 1980 was caused mostly by the Silver
and Gold Market's Collapse.  On February 19th, 1980, Silver broke its neckline support in a head and
shoulders pattern after rising 500% in five months. Gold broke neckline support on March 7th, 1990.
It was the March precious metals' panic which brought the forced liquidation of a broad range of
financial instruments.  The Boom in metals brings along the DJIA or NYSE.  But metals' booms
often become hyperbolic and when their bubbles break, the margin calls and expectation of   wider
decline bring sharp drop in equities, too.

“A Billion dollars isn't what it used to be”
“People who know how much they're worth aren't usually worth that much.”

I looked in bein to find any quotes from him about the role of gravity in stock and commodity prices.

For many traders the 198-0 collapse in silver was the final straw for a stock market already under siege from worries as diverse as the Iranian hostage crisis, the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and soaring interest rates. [The consumer price index climbed at a 13% rate for 1979. The prime lending rate hit 22% in early 1980].

http://www.buyandhold.com/bh/en/education/history/2000/hunt_bros.html

the loss between the 2/13 high of 918.17 and the 3/27 intraday low of 729.95 was actually 20%.]

In 1973, the Hunt family of Texas, possibly the richest family in America at the time, decided to buy precious metals as a hedge against inflation. Gold could not be held by private citizens at that time, so the Hunts began to buy silver in enormous quantity.

In 1979 the sons of patriarch H.L. Hunt, Nelson Bunker and William Herbert, together with some wealthy Arabs, formed a silver pool. In a short period of time they had amassed more than 200 million ounces of silver, equivalent to half the world's deliverable supply.

When the Hunt's had begun accumulating silver back in 1973 the price was in the $1.95 / ounce range. Early in '79, the price was about $5. Late '79 / early '80 the price was in the $50's, peaking at $54.

Once the silver market was cornered, outsiders joined the chase but a combination of changed trading rules on the New York Metals Market (COMEX) and the intervention of the Federal Reserve put an end to the game. The price began to slide, culminating in a 50% one-day decline on March 27, 1980 as the price plummeted from $21.62 to $10.80.

n 1973, the Hunt family of Texas, possibly the richest family in America at the time, decided to buy precious metals as a hedge against inflation. Gold could not be held by private citizens at that time, so the Hunts began to buy silver in enormous quantity.

In 1979 the sons of patriarch H.L. Hunt, Nelson Bunker and William Herbert, together with some wealthy Arabs, formed a silver pool. In a short period of time they had amassed more than 200 million ounces of silver, equivalent to half the world's deliverable supply.
http://www.buyandhold.com/bh/en/education/history/2000/hunt_bros.html   
                     

                                           2/15/1980                                  13.0%  Fed determined to drop the market
                                           5/30/1980                                  12.0%   Market is rallying from April low.
                                           6/13/1990                                  11.0%   Drop in rates in on-going bull market
                                           7/28/1980                                  10.0%   Drop in rates in on-going bull market
                                           9/26/1980                                 11.0% Tightening again.
                                           11/17/1980                               12.0%  Stops rally and drops DJI to lower band.
                                           12/5/1980                                 13.0%  Drops DJI to lower band and support.
                   
                                                                                                         1980 SILVER PANIC