A Brief History of Enron – With Enron Stock Chart

Enron traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ENE, and later under the symbol ENRN when it traded on the NASDAQ.

Shares of Enron stock reached their highest price on August 23rd, 2000 when shares reached a price of $90.75! The high share price gave Enron a market cap of about $70 billion, enough to make it the 7th largest publicly traded company.

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Lessons from the Pets.com Downfall – What’s the Difference Between a Bad Idea and a Good Idea That’s Early?

As we build out our ‘This Day in Stock Market History’ archive, I like to periodically take an in depth look at notable events in history. Today’s post comes at the anniversary of the IPO of one of the most infamous dot-com names.  [continue reading…]

The Wisdom of Crowds – The Story of The Stock Market’s Reaction to the Challenger Explosion

“If the efficient market hypothesis is true – and the Challenger explosion example certainly implies it is – The wisdom of crowds has enormously far reaching consequences.”

-Andrew Lo, from his book Adaptive Markets: Financial Evolution at the Speed of Thought

As we build out our ‘This Day in Stock Market History‘ archives, I like to go into more detail on events that I believe offer important lessons for investors, had significant historical impact, or events that are just simply interesting.

This week in history, on January 28th, 1986, an event occurred that meets all three of these criteria – The stock market’s behavior after the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle.

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How Did The Stock Market Perform During Watergate and Nixon’s Impeachment?

Another day and another round of the #impeachment headline trending:

Today’s situation is not a direct comparison with Nixon and Watergate. But let’s say this gets as bad as Watergate and cover ups exist all the way up the ladder at the White House, what can investors expect to happen?

Stock Market Performance During Watergate Scandal and Nixon’s Impeachment

From the beginning of the Watergate scandal to a few weeks after Nixon’s resignation, U.S. stocks markets fell more than 40%.

It is easy to forget after 40+ years, but Watergate took a long time to play out. Here’s a quick bullet point timeline of the big events of the Watergate scandal, along with where the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded at the time:

Timeline of the Watergate Scandal and Nixon’s Impeachment

  • June 17th 1972, the “White House Plumbers” were arrested breaking into the DNC office building at the Watergate office complex.
    • Dow Jones Industrial Average at 941.
  • March 17th 1973, that the investigation moved to focus on anyone within the White House.
    • Dow Jones Industrial Average at 952.
  • 9 months later, the Vice President resigned on October 10th 1973.
  • November 17th 1973 Nixon gave his “I’m not a crook” speech.
    • Dow Jones Industrial Average at 862.
  • March 1st, 1974 saw an indictment against former Nixon aides.
    • Dow Jones Industrial Average at 851.
  • July 24th 1974 – U.S. court orders Nixon to give up tapes.
  • July 27th 1974 – Impeachment process begins in Congress
  • August 9th, 1974, Nixon resigned.
    • Dow Jones Industrial Average at 777.
  • Markets hit low on October 4th.
    • Dow Jones Industrial Average at 587.

It was more than 2 years between the break-in at the Watergate complex and Nixon’s resignation.

It is important to note that there was a lot going on at this time. The OPEC oil embargo occurred at the end of 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel, and inflation was beginning to get out of control. More than likely all of these events led to the stock market’s decline during this time. How much would the markets have gone down without the oil embargo, war or inflation? There is really no way to know.

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A Look Into Peter Lynch’s Investment Style – 5 Key Criteria – What Would He Buy Today?

Peter Lynch header

 

Every once in a while, I like to take a closer look at an event that comes up in our “This Day in History” archive, which gets posted daily on Facebook, Twitter, and is now available as an Amazon Flash Briefing.

Today we look into the life of Peter Lynch, whose birthday is this week, and who is one of the most successful mutual fund managers in history.

What did Peter Lynch look for in an investment, and what stocks would Peter Lynch buy today?

Lynch looked for 5 key criteria when selecting an investment:

  1. Buy What You Know

  2. Growth At A Reasonable Price

  3. Avoid The Hot Stocks

  4. Stay Small

  5. Strong Balance Sheet

 

We’ll look at these in more detail below, and a list of companies that meet all of these criteria –  but first a quick look at Lynch’s historic run as a mutual fund manager:

Peter Lynch – One of the Investing Greats

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This Day in Stock Market History – Now on Your Amazon Alexa

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Exciting news! In addition to getting our ‘This Day in Stock Market History’ posts on Facebook and Twitter, it is now available as an Amazon flash briefing skill also. Here’s an example of what to expect: [continue reading…]

This Week in Stock Market History – WorldCom Bankruptcy

 

This week marks the anniversary of, at the time, the largest bankruptcy in American history and the conclusion of the largest case of accounting fraud in history. *

WorldCom declared bankruptcy July 21st, 2002 with $107 billion in assets.

How did this fraud develop? How was the WorldCom scandal discovered? How did WorldCom investors fare? [continue reading…]

Who Was The Best President According to the Dow Jones Industrial Average?

After hearing one too many comments from rational economists talking heads about how Hillary Clinton will “destroy small business” (and the stock market) or Donald Trump would “destroy America” (and the stock market) I thought it would be interesting to see how the stock market performed under various presidents in history. Before looking below, lets do a quick test. Who would you consider to be among the top few Presidents since 1897 (when this info-graphic starts)? How about the bottom few?

As the election wears on and rhetoric heats up, I see more and more political bias affecting investor behavior. So before you sell all your stocks once you see Hillary or Trump get elected, look below:

 

How did your picks actually perform?

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Today in Stock Market History – May 4th – National Cordage Bankruptcy and the Panic of 1893

 

This Day in History

 

1893 – National Cordage Company declares bankruptcy after a failed attempt to corner the hemp market.  At the time, National Cordage was the most traded stock and the selloff of shares quickly spread across the market. National Cordage was assumed to be a healthy, prosperous company, so it’s failure was a surprise to Wall Street. The stock opened at 39 but fell to 20 and the general market dropped in panic as well. General Electric fell from 88.5 to 79.5 (a decline of about 10%), Union Pacific railway fell equally, from 34 3/8 to 31 7/8. The fear would spread into the next day, May 5th 1893 which would become the worst day in stock market history, and remain so until 1929. Sources:  New York Tribune May 5, 1893 page 1, The Evening Star May 5 1893 page 1 and Panic, Prosperity and Progress

The Panic of 1893 would turn into one of the worst economic depressions in the nations history. 14,000 business would close and unemployment would rise to 20%. The depression would last 4 years before the country began to recover.

Best May 4th in Dow Jones Industrial Average History

1906 – Up 3.04% or 1.93 points.

Worst May 4th in Dow Jones Industrial Average History

1970 – Down 2.60%, or 19.07 points.

 

Image of the Day

Hard-Times-1893

The panic of 1893 would lead to massive strikes, marches on the capital, mass unemployment and stock market declines. The panic would produce what would become the worst economic depression in history, and remain so until 1929.

 

 

Today in Stock Market History – April 20th –

Quote of the Day

 

“I can calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.” – Iasac Newton

 

This Day in History

 

1720 – Iasac Newton sells his shares in South Sea Company for a profit of 100%, or about 7,000 pounds. However he couldn’t resist the urge to make more when soon after he would buy back into the South Sea Company Stock and eventually lose 20,000 pounds, leading Newton to state: “I can calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.” – Source: Manias, Panics and Crashes

1933 –  U.S. stocks continue their rally after the U.S. officially abandons the gold standard the day before. After a rise of 9% on the 19th, April 20th the Dow rises another 5.8% – Source: It Was A Very Good Year

Best April 20th in Dow Jones Industrial Average History

1933 – Up 5.80%, or 5.66 points

 

Worst April 20th in Dow Jones Industrial Average History

2009 – Down 3.56% or 289.6 points

Today in Stock Market History – April 9th – The Start of the World War 1 Boom

This Day in History

1915 – Bethlehem Steel vaults from $88 to $117 per share, part of a 10 day rise that would see its share price rise 70 points. The World War 1 boom is underway. (Source: It Was A Very Good Year)

 

Best April 9th in Dow Jones Industrial Average History

1938 – Up 5.25%, +5.75 points

 

Worst April 9th in Dow Jones Industrial Average History

1943 – Down 3.17%, -4.30 points

 

Best April 9th in S&P 500 History

2009 – Up 3.81%

 

Worst April 9th in S&P 500 History

1987 – Down 1.48%

 

Today in Stock Market History – April 8th – The Market Peaks Prior to World War 2

This Day in History

 

April 8th, 1940 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 151.29, which would come to represent the market’s peak prior to World War 2. The Dow Jones Industiral Average would hit a WW2 low of 92.92 on April 28th 1942. The Dow would not close above 151.29 until December 29th 1944. (Source: The Market’s Measure)

 

Best April 8th in Dow Jones Industrial Average History

1938 – Up 3.93%, +4.14 points

 

Worst April 8th in Dow Jones Industrial Average History

1932 – Down 4.98%, -3.30 points

 

Best April 8th in S&P 500 History

1986 – Up 2.14%

 

Worst April 8th in S&P 500 History

1996 – Down 1.77%

 

Today in Stock Market History – March 13th – Microsoft IPO, Panic of 1907

Quote of the Day

“By the end of the first day of trading, some 2.5 million shares had changed hands, and the price of Microsoft’s stock stood at $27.75. The opportunity to take a quick profit was too great for many institutional investors to resist. Over the next few weeks they sold off roughly half their shares.” – Fortune on the Microsoft IPO

After making a quick 40%, almost half of the original shares purchased at the IPO were sold. Over the next 30 years Microsoft stock would rise another 75,000%!

 

This Day in History

 

1907 – The Panic of 1907 is still a few months away, but cracks are appearing in the confidence investors have in American companies. Stocks break lower, led by the once coveted railroads. The Dow Railroad index falls from 112.53 to 107.52. (Source: It was a very good year)

1986 – Microsoft Corp (Ticker: MSFT) goes public with an initial offering price of $21 per share ($0.07 today adjusted for splits and dividends). Every $100 invested at its IPO is worth a little more than $75,000.

 

Best March 13th in Dow Jones Industrial Average History

2003 – Up 3.57% or 269.68 points

 

Worst March 13th in Dow Jones Industrial Average History

1907 – Down 3.94% or 2.48 points

 

Best March 13th in S&P 500 History

2003 – Up 3.45%, 27.71 points

 

Worst March 13th in S&P 500 History

2007 – Down 2.04%

 

Picture of the Day

 

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Bill Gates was on the cover of Fortune Magazine after the successful IPO of Microsoft. The original article published July 21st 1986 can be found here.

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Today in Stock Market History – March 4th

This Day in History – March 4th

 

March 4th, 1957 – The S&P 500 index is introduced. Although Standard and Poors introduced its first stock index in 1923, today marks the anniversary of the S&P 500 index as we know it today. It closed the day at 44.06.

 

Best March 4th in S&P 500 History:

 2009 – Up 2.38%

 

Worst March 4th in S&P 500 History:

 2003 – Down 1.54%

 

Best March 4th in Dow Jones Industrials History:


1926 – Up 4.38 %, or 6.32 points

 

Worst March 4th in Dow Jones Industrials History:

 1897 – Down 1.88% or .57 points

 

 

 

Chart of the Day

The S&P 500 since its creation in 1957:

SP500_chart

 

Since March 4th 1957 the S&P 500 has returned 4424%, not counting dividends.

Or,  a compounded annual growth rate of 6.67%, not counting dividends. [continue reading…]

Begin To Invest Daily – February 18th – Birthday of Charles Schwab, Great Depression Volatility

Quote of the Day

”I’ve thought the whole thing over, and if we are going bust, we will go bust big.”

– Charles M. Schwab of Bethlehem Steel on his plan to build a new steel mill to produce steel beams in the shape on an “H”. The design would later turn into the “I” Beam.

Hence, the company’s logo:Bethlehem_Steel_logo

 

This Day in Stock Market History

 

Charles_SchwabFebruary 18th 1862 – Birthday of Charles M. Schwab (2/18/1862 – 9/18/1939)
American entrepreneur who started his career with Carnegie’s steelworks and who later pioneered Bethlehem Steel. ( He is unrelated to the Charles W Schwab of the brokerage today.)

The company would become a major name on Wall Street as WW1 and WW2 produced massive steel orders. One such run up is featured in the book “It Was a Very Good Year” in which the price of Bethlehem steel shot up over 70 points in 10 days, and rising from 88 to 117 on April 9th.

 

With his leadership Bethlehem steel would become the second largest steel company in the world, and his idea of the “H” Beam would revolutionize the building of skyscrapers.

He would amass a wealth of nearly a billion dollars (adjusted for inflation), before dying in debt in 1939. He was an avid gambler, was known for his extravagant parties and extra-marital affairs.

A great, short biography of Schwab is available here.

 

 

 

Best February 18th in S&P 500 History:

2003 – Up 1.95% or 16.28 points

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Begin To Invest Daily – Feb 17th in Stock Market History

Quote of the Day

Once in the dear dead days beyond recall, an out-of-town visitor was being shown the wonders of the New York Financial District. When the party arrived at the battery, one of his guides indicated some handsome ships riding at anchor. He said,

“Look, those are the bankers’ and brokers’ yachts.”

 

“Where are the customer’s yachts?” asked the naive visitor.

-Opening to Where are the Customers’ Yachts by Fred Schwed

 

 

This Day in History

1977 – Blue Chip Stamps, with Charlie Munger as chairman and Warren Buffett as principal shareholder purchases the Buffalo Evening Newspaper – Entering Buffett into the newspaper business.

Buffett and Munger paid $35.5 million for the paper, which was their biggest purchase ever at that time. The history of Buffett and the Buffalo Evening Newspaper is an interesting one – it takes up a whole chapter in Alice Schroeder’s biography on Buffett: The Snowball

Initially, the paper was the most read local paper in Buffalo, but after a court case and managerial trouble, the newspaper began to quickly lose money, $1.4 million by November 1977. But things would slowly turn around and by 1983 the paper was making more than $19 million a year.

 

2000 – Total trading volume for the day on NASDAQ tops 2 billion shares for the first time, as 2,008,438,100 shares change hands and the NASDAQ Composite Index closes above 4500 for the first time, finishing the day at 4548.92.

 

Best February 17th in S&P 500 History:

1987 – up 2.07%

 

Worst February 17th in S&P 500 History:

2009 – down 4.56%

 

Best  February 17th in Dow Jones Industrials History:

1987 – up 2.48%, or 54.14 points

 

Worst February 17th in Dow Jones Industrials History:

 1932 – down 4.09%, or 3.51 points

 

 

 

Picture of the Day [continue reading…]

Begin To Invest Daily – February 14th – Romantic Investors, 1933 Michigan Bank Holiday

Quote of the Day:

Buffett on Romance:

buffett_investor_ro2

This Day in History:

 

Best February 14th in S&P 500 History:
  • Year 2003 – S&P 500 up 17.52 points, or 2.14%
Worst February 14th in S&P 500 History:
  • Year 1980, S&P 500 down 1.45%

 

1933 –
At 1:32 AM on a Tuesday morning, Governor William Comstock of Michigan declares a 8 day banking holiday as Michigan banks struggle to remain open. In the midst of the great depression banks nationwide were stressed, but Michigan was hit particularly hard by the great depression. After failed negotiations with Henry Ford for help, the governor was forced to declare a banking holiday to prevent defaults. However the banks would not open in just 8 days. Banks in many other states were not in any better condition than those in Michigan. By early March, 36 states had banking operations suspended.

Then on March 6th, just 36 hours after being sworn into office, President Roosevelt declared a week long national bank holiday. Over the next week panic would subdue and with the help of legislation from congress, the worst of the bank runs would be over.

 

Image of the Day [continue reading…]

July 30th: Today in Stock Market History – The Birthday of Henry Ford

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