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
“Over the long term, the stock market news will be good. In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts; the Depression; a dozen or so recessions and financial panics; oil shocks; a flu epidemic; and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497.”
– Warren Buffett
Today marks the anniversary of an event that would prove pivotal in America’s entrance into WW1 – The sinking of the Lusitania, which had immediate and long term implications to the U.S. stock market. Eventually the war would cause the stock market to close for 4 and a half months.
May 7th – This Day in Stock Market History
May 7th, 1901 – E.H. Harriman and J.P Morgan’s bidding war for Northern Pacific stock continues. The shares, trading at $110 a few days before vault as high as $149 before closing at $143. The battle between the two Wall Street behemoths would continue for the next 2 days as shares of Northern Pacific would get bid up to $1,000 per share on May 9th, 1901.
The astronomical rise would cause a near panic on the exchange as traders sold any available security to pay for covering their short position on the stock.
Source: Eyewitness to Wall Street
May 7th, 1915 – German submarines sink the Lusitania, the same ship that had brought $7 million in gold to help restore the U.S. financial system on November 6th, 1907.
As investors begin to doubt that the U.S. will be able to stay neutral, stocks decline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 4.5% on the day and would decline 9% over the next 4 days.
Source: It Was A Very Good Year
The U.S would officially enter World War 1 on April 6th, 1917
May 7th, 1945 – V-E Day as Germany surrenders.
The move was largely already priced into the U.S. stock markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up only a fraction of a percent on the day, and down a fraction of a percent the next.
However, over the previous 12 months prior to Germany’s surrender, the Dow had gained 26.7%.
Best May 7th in Dow Jones Industrial Average History
1898 – Up 2.58%, 0.91 points
Worst May 7th in Dow Jones Industrial Average History
1915 – Down 4.54%, 3.1 points
<– Go To Previous Day: May 6th: 1964 – Warren Buffett begins aggressively buying Berkshire Hathaway shares.
Go To Next Day: May 8th: 1886 – The first day that Coca-Cola is sold. –>
