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Quote of the Day
The intelligent investor gets interested in big growth stocks not when they are at their most popular – but when something goes wrong.
-Ben Graham, The Intelligent Investor
August 2nd – This Day in Stock Market History
August 2nd, 1923 – President Harding dies suddenly of a heart attack in San Fransisco at age 57.
His death occurred at 7:30pm on a Saturday night, the stock market would decline 1.5% the following Monday August 4th. Calvin Coolidge would become the nation’s 30th president.
August 2nd, 1926 – Wild trading in GM shares as J.P. Morgan partner Thomas Cochran makes comments on GM’s financial strength.
At the time, General Motors is dominating the American car market, producing and selling 1 in every 3 cars in the country. The stock would rise rapidly in the last hour of trading from 190 to 201, igniting cheers on the stock market floor as $200 per share price is passed.
GM shares would continue to rise and finish the week up nearly 15%, to $217 per share.
See below in our ‘Read of the Day’ section to read GM’s 1926 annual report. Here’s a preview:
Sources: August 3rd and 9th 1926 Chicago tribunes, Wall Street and the Stock Markets: A Chronology
August 2nd, 1990 – Iraq invades Kuwait.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average would fall more than 6% over the next 3 days and 21% from the July 17th peak of 2,999.95 to the October bottom.
Source: The Market’s Measure
August 2nd, 2018 – Apple becomes the first U.S based company with a $1 trillion market cap.
Shares of Apple rose 2.9% on the day, closing at $207.39, giving the company a $1.002 trillion valuation.
Shares of Apple’s stock were up about 40,000% since Apple computer’s IPO on December 12th, 1980.
At the time, there was more than just Apple vying for the first to break the $1 trillion milestone. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft were all nearing the trillion dollar mark on this day in 2018:
Amazon would break the $1 trillion milestone a month later on September 4th, 2018.
Microsoft would reach the milestone nearly a year later, on April 25th, 2019.
Best August 2nd in Dow Jones Industrial Average History
1984 – Up 2.77%, 31.44 points.
Worst August 2nd in Dow Jones Industrial Average History
1932 – Down 3.24%, 1.78 points.
Read of the Day – General Motor’s 1926 Annual Report
A Blast from the Past: GM’s 1926 annual report – We saw above how GM shares were faring in 1926, and the excitement seemed justified – 1926 was a record setting year for GM. The company showed growth of 47% year over year.
<– Go To Previous Day: August 1st, 1914: Germany declares war on Russia. All European countries now at war (U.S. stock markets closed for 4 months)
Go To Next Day: August 3rd, 1927: Stocks decline as President Coolidge “chooses” to not seek reelection–>
