September 5 in Market History

On September 5, 1929, Roger Babson – a market statistician with a reputation as a permanent bear – said, 'Sooner or later, a crash is coming and it may be terrific … factories will shut down … men will be thrown out of work … the vicious circle will get in full swing and the result will be a serious business depression.' But he had been giving the same prediction since 1921.

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September 4 in Market History

When the stock market peaked at 381 on September 3, 1929, times were good and babies were being born across the land. (During the 1930s, however, population growth slowed dramatically.) 

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September 3 in Market History

On September 3, 1929, the Dow Jones index peaked at 381.17. It would not reach that level again for 26 years, until 1955. The index lost 48% in 10 weeks, and 89% in less than three years. 

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September 2 in Market History

On September 2, 1997, the Dow gained 257.36 (+3.4%), the largest daily point gain in the history of that index, to that point. For the week of September 1-5, 1997, the Dow gained 199.99 points. 

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September 1 in Market History

October may have the worst reputation, but September is historically the worst month of the year, at least from 1950 to 1994. In the late 1990s, however, that trend began to change, with four straight rising Septembers, averaging +4.2%. In 1998, September's gain came almost entirely on this date, September 1, when the Dow rose 288 points, the second best daily point gain in history, to that date. The Dow then managed to add only 15 more points in the next 29 days. 

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August 31 in Market History

On August 31, 1839, the U.S. Treasury Department moved to its headquarters at 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., right next to the White House. The Treasury Building was designed in the then-trendy high Greek Revival style by architect Robert Mills.

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August 30 in Market History

On August 30, 1994, Lockheed and Martin Marietta joined forces to create one of the world's largest aerospace/defense companies. The new name was Lockheed Martin Corporation, and they kept gobbling up other defense-related firms since then, including Loral and Unisys Defense.

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August 29 in Market History

August 29, 1862 is the birthday of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, born of President Abraham Lincoln's need to finance the Civil War. Because of wartime inflation, Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase elected to print 'paper coins,' replacing silver change, which had become scarce. The Bureau began in the basement of the Treasury Building, with a staff of six. They didn't print dollar notes at first, but the Bureau started printing Greenbacks when the Civil War dragged on. Since 1862, the Bureau has grown from six to 2,800 employees, in two offices in Washington, D.C., and Fort Worth, Texas. Today, the bureau turns out 6.5 billion notes a year.

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August 27 in Market History

On August 27, 1857, the 'Panic of 1857' accelerated when several vulnerable Wall Street brokerage firms, including the prestigious Jacob Little, were unable to meet their obligations.

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August 26 in Market History

On August 26, 1982, a record 137 million shares traded, as the Dow rose 7.52 points, to 892.41 on the 10th trading day of the recent 18-year bull market. The Dow rose 12.5% in the first 10 days of the bull market, despite the fact that a Dow stock, Manville, went bankrupt on this day. 

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