What happened October 1997 AD

In October 1997, the Hong Kong dollar, which had been pegged at 7.8 to the U.S. dollar since 1983, came under speculative pressure because Hong Kong's inflation rate had been significantly higher than the United States' for years.

On 4 October 1997, famed Nintendo developer Gunpei Yokoi died in a car crash. In 1997, Nintendo released the SNS-101 (called Super Famicom Jr. in Japan), a smaller redesigned version of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

In 1997, Jolie starred with David Duchovny in the thriller Playing God, released on 17 October 1997, set in the Los Angeles underworld.

Stock markets became more and more volatile; between 20 and 23 October the Hang Seng Index dropped 23%.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority then promised to protect the currency. On 23 October 1997, it raised overnight interest rates from 8% to 23%, and at one point to '280%'.

Eminem went to Los Angeles to compete in the 1997 Rap Olympics, an annual, nationwide battle rap competition. He placed second, and Interscope Records staff in attendance sent a copy of the Slim Shady EP to company CEO Jimmy Iovine.

Similarly, there was a panic in the financial world during the year 1997; the Asian Financial Crisis. Like the fall of many foreign markets, the Dow suffered a 7.18% drop in value (554.26 points) on October 27, 1997, in what later became known as the 1997 Mini-Crash but from which the DJIA recovered quickly. This was the first time that the "circuit breaker" rule had operated.

The crisis led to a drop in consumer and spending confidence (see 27 October 1997 mini-crash). Indirect effects included the dot-com bubble, and years later the housing bubble and the subprime mortgage crisis.

On 27 October 1997, the Dow Jones industrial plunged 554 points or 7.2%, amid ongoing worries about the Asian economies.

Severe Tropical Storm Linda, also known as Typhoon Linda, Cyclonic Storm BOB 08, or in the Philippines as Tropical Depression Openg, was the worst typhoon in southern Vietnam in at least 100 years, killing thousands of people and leaving extensive damage. It formed on October 31, 1997 in the South China Sea, between Indochina and the Philippines.