With all eyes desperately urging The Dow to cross 20,000 and prove that everything in the world of Trumplandia is awesome, we thought some reflection on another major milestone in the omnipresent Stock Index would be worthwhile…
As The New York Times reported 44 years ago… The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 1,000 mark yesterday for the first time in history.
It finished at 1,003.16 for a gain of 6.09 points in what many Wall Streeters consider the equivalent of the initial breaking of the four-minute mile.
"This thing has an obvious psychological effect," declared one brokerage-house partner. "It's a hell of a news item. As for the perminence of it — well, I just don't know."
…
The Dow finally put it all together, the peace rally, the re-election of President Nixon, the surging economy, booming corporate profits and lessening fears about inflation and taxes and controls and other uncertainties of 1973.
…
With such kingpin issues leading the forward surge, the market fed on its own momentum. The Dow forged past 1,000 at 1:30 P.M. and it kept gaining almost consistently until the final bell.
At 3:29 P.M., red light bars flashed on above and below each of the time clocks surrounding the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. This was the traditional visual signal to show that one minute of training time remained. At the same moment, a bell began clanging on the speaker's rostrum – the auditory warning.
Traders, brokers and clerks on the floor – aware that history was in the making – broke into cheers that lasted about 20 seconds. Some paper was tossed in the air and drifted down like confetti.
Several hundred persons on the floor then turned to face newsreel cameras grinding away on the member's gallery, some brokers waving like fans at a football game.
…
An office broker, watching the stock tape from his desk downtown, murmured in wonderment: "There's a sort of renewed confidence in the whole economic outlook."
Nine months later, the US entered recession…
h/t @Peter_Atwater
and the stock market plunged over 44% from its post-1k highs…
Probably different this time though.
via http://ift.tt/2hdx3Cm Tyler Durden