January 14th – This Day in Stock Market History

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Quote of the Day

“For the individual investor, “average returns” of 66 or 36 or 26 years are only of academic interest. They do not reveal how any particular investor fared. In reality, few investors have either the emotional stamina or deep pockets to ride out decades that include bear markets, sideways markets, recessions and wars. Ultimately “average returns” only exist in the abstract. The difference between that average and an individual investor’s experience in the real world marks the difference between the best-laid plans and reality.”

-Maggie Mahar, in the book; Bull: A History of the Boom and Bust, 1982-2004

January 14th – This Day in Stock Market History

January 14th, 2000 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its internet bubble peak of 11,722.98.

Dow Jones chart tech bubble
Chart from MacroTrends

Although the Dow would fare better than the technology heavy NASDAQ index, it would still fall nearly 40% to 7,286.27 by October 9th, 2002.

Many stocks began to roll over before the NASDAQ index peaked on March 10th, 2000. Just a few examples of the lack of breadth towards the end of the tech bubble:

  • The number of stocks hitting 52 week highs peaked on April 3rd 1998. Almost 2 full years before the NASDAQ peaked.
  • By the end of 1998, only 5 stocks accounted for more than half of the index’s gains.
  • When the Dow reached 10,000 on March 16th, 1999, 76% of the stocks in the index were down 15% or more.

Source: Bull: A History of the Boom and Bust, 1982-2004

Best January 14th in Dow Jones Industrial Average History

1992 – Up 1.90%, 60.60 points.

Worst January 14th in Dow Jones Industrial Average History

2009 – Down 2.94%, 248.42 points.

Read of the Day

The book Bull!: A History of the Boom and Bust, is one of my favorite Wall Street history books. Maggie Mahar does an excellent job recreating the atmosphere during the tech bubble. We have a review of the book, along with our key takeaways in an article here:

Bull! – 3 Lessons From the Tech Bubble

<– Go To Previous Day: January 13th, 2000 – Bill Gates steps down as Microsoft’s CEO.

Go To Next Day: January 15th, 1999 – As tech bubble rages on, Marketwatch stock IPOs at $17, closes at $97.50 –>