The Worst Week in History for the Dow Jones Industrial Average
Kurt Brouwer October 10th, 2008
That’s not a headline I wanted to read. The Dow Jones Industrials Average dates back 112 years and we just experienced the worst single-week performance in that history. MSN Money has the story, which is sure to get plenty of attention over the weekend [emphasis in the original]:
Despite rebound, stocks end worst week ever (MSN Money, October 10, 2008, Charley Blaine & Elizabeth Strott)
The stock market finished its worst week ever with a dramatic rebound from even worse lows.
The Dow Jones industrials moved more than 1,000 points during the session — from a low of nearly 700 points to a gain of more than 300 — before falling back again. It was the first 1,000-point swing for the blue-chip index.
The blue chips closed down 128 points, or 1.5%, to 8,451. Twice during the day, the index fell under 8,000 for the first time since April 2003. Twice it bounced back.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 11 points, or 1.2%, to 899. But the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 4 points, or 0.3%, to 1,650. A big engine in the Nasdaq’s gain: a 9.1% gain to $96.80 in Apple (AAPL, news, msgs). The iPod maker had fallen as low as $85 at the open.
For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 were off 18.2%. It was the worst week for the Dow in its 112-year history and the worst week for the S&P 500 since the week of May 21, 1933. The Nasdaq’s 15.3% loss was its worst since the week of April 10, 2000, as the dot-com bust broke…
So, for the Dow we had the worst week ever. For the S&P 500, we had the worst week since 1933 and the depths of the Great Depression. What a week.
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I read that story also. But, I do not think that it is as bad as people are saying. The reason is because that a lot of people just withdrew a large portion of capital from the market. This capital will be back in play sooner or later. The market is a zero sum game. It will go back up with in the next 2 years……
Roman — you are correct, In fact, we did recent story on the fact that money market mutual funds now have $3.4 trillion in them. Not to mention bank deposits and Treasury Bills. So, there is plenty of cash on the sidelines.
These are scary times. The bail out failed, the European economies were spooked and unless the world
markets continue to adjust their fiscal policies in concert the market pyschology will remain pessimistic.
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