Did you know? You can go to any day’s “This Day in History” page by simply entering the month and date after www.begintoinvest.com/
For example: www.begintoinvest.com/May-9
Or follow Begin To Invest on Twitter or Facebook for daily posts!
Now, ‘This Day in History’ is also available as an Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing!
Quote of the Day
“We are the good guys. We are on the side of angels.”
– Jeffrey Skilling, then CEO of Enron, in a interview with PBS in 2001 after being accused of manipulating energy markets across California. Enron would soon erupt into one of the largest accounting scandals in history and declare bankruptcy in less than 10 months. Skilling would be charged on this day in 2004 (read more below).
February 19th – This Day in Stock Market History
February 19th, 1981 – Ford motor company announces a $1.5 billion loss for the 1980 fiscal year (equivalent to $5 billion today adjusted to inflation).
At the time, it was the largest American corporate loss ever announced.
It was also the first loss reported for Ford since Ford’s IPO in January 17th, 1956.
By the end of 1981 Ford’s stock would be down nearly 75% from it’s highs just a few years earlier. But Ford would quickly recover:
(Click to Enlarge)
February 19th, 2004 – Former Enron Corp. chief executive Jeffrey Skilling is charged with fraud, insider trading and other crimes in connection with the energy trader’s collapse. He was originally sentenced to 24 years in prison, but has since made deals to get that reduced.
He was released in February 2019.
Enron, once the darling of Wall Street and declared “One of American’s Most Innovative Companies” 6 years in a row by Fortune Magazine is now known for one of the biggest accounting scandals to come out of Wall Street. At the time, Enron was the largest bankruptcy in American history.
Enron employed bogus accounting gimmicks, recording non-existent assets on its balance sheet and recording revenue prematurely.
By August 2001, Enron’s share price (see chart below) was over $90. But company executives were selling – an estimated $1.1 billion in shares were sold by company executives between October 1998 and November 2001.
The Enron scandal is depicted in an excellent documentary and book : The Smartest Guys in the Room
Best February 19th in Dow Jones Industrial Average History:
1931 – Up 1.86%, or 3.36 points.
Worst February 19th in Dow Jones Industrial Average History:
1946 – Down 2.73% or 5.5 points
Chart of the Day
Enron’s Stock Chart:
We have a collection on Enron related stock charts and dates in history here
<– Go To Previous Day: February 18th: 1862 – Charles Schwab birthday.
Go To Next Day: February 20th: 1795 – Robert Morris creates the North American Land Co. –>
