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View Full Version : does anyone remember or was alive during black monday?



actsnoblemartin
10-20-2007, 11:54 AM
i was only 7, what was it like?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071019/bs_nm/markets_stocks_dc;_ylt=As5cx0tqSUIxZltm7xFytMZ34T0 D

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Caterpillar Inc.'s warning that the housing slump was infecting the wider economy sent U.S. stocks tumbling by the most in more than two months on Friday, in a drop that was made more unnerving as it marked the 20th anniversary of the 1987 market crash.

The Dow fell nearly 367 points after Caterpillar (CAT.N), the world's top maker of earth-moving construction and mining equipment, said the U.S. economy will be "near to, or even in, recession" next year. Several industries it serves already are in recession, it said.

The bleak comments from economic bellwether Caterpillar, whose stock fell 5.3 percent, helped drag down the shares of other big manufacturers, including 3M Co. (MMM.N), and contributed to a shift from stocks to the relative safety of U.S. Treasury bonds.

Weak North America results sent shares of Schlumberger Ltd (SLB.N), the world's largest oil service company, down 11 percent. Energy producers' shares also fell as oil retreated from its record high of just over $90 a barrel.

"It's pretty ugly," said Bill Strazzullo, partner and chief market strategist at Bell Curve Trading in Boston.

"A company like Caterpillar should be a poster child for global growth and benefits of the weak dollar. It makes you question: Is global growth really that strong? Has the earnings kick from the weak dollar played itself out?"

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was down 366.94 points, or 2.64 percent, to end at 13,522.02. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) was down 39.45 points, or 2.56 percent, at 1,500.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) was down 74.15 points, or 2.65 percent, at 2,725.16.

It was the worst percentage drop for the Dow and the S&P 500 since Aug 9, the day the European Central Bank injected money into the banking system to help calm markets after French bank BNP Paribas froze three funds that invested in U.S. subprime mortgages. The Nasdaq had its biggest daily percentage drop since the global market rout on February 27.

The market's decline coincided with the 20th anniversary of "Black Monday." On October 19, 1987, the Dow industrials fell nearly 23 percent.

WORST WEEK SINCE JULY

It was the worst weekly performance for the Dow and the S&P since the last week of July, with the Dow ending down 4.1 percent, the S&P lost 3.9 percent. The Nasdaq shed 2.9 percent.

Shares of 3M Co (MMM.N) fell 8.6 percent to $86.62 on worries about falling profits in the LCD television market.

Caterpillar lost 5.3 percent to $73.57. Investors watch large manufacturers like 3M and Caterpillar for clues on the strength of the U.S. economy.

The week capped another tumultuous period for the financial sector after banks such as Citigroup Inc (C.N) and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) rattled investors with disappointing earnings reports.

On Friday, Wachovia Corp (WB.N), the fourth-largest U.S. bank, posted its first profit drop in six years, hurt by $1.3 billion of write-downs at its investment banking unit as credit markets tightened. For details, see Wachovia fell 3.7 percent to $46.37 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The S&P financial index (.GSPF) had its worst week since July 2002. It was also the index's first weekly drop since the Federal Reserve cut interest rates on September 18 -- a cut that was meant, in part, to allay concerns about the effects of the credit crunch.

U.S. short-term interest-rate futures on Friday showed as high as a 98 percent chance of a one-quarter percent cut at the Federal Reserve's October meeting. The Fed's decision will be announced after that two-day meeting concludes on October 31, which also is Halloween.

Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) shares dropped 3.1 percent to $92.14 as U.S. crude shed 87 cents to settle at $88.60 a barrel after rising to a record $90.07 overnight.

Schlumberger shares, which are still up around 60 percent this year, dropped 11 percent, or $12.30, to $99.32. That weighed on the entire sector, pulling the Philadelphia Stock Exchange index of oil services companies (.OSX) down 6.4 percent.

Trading was fairly active on the NYSE, with about 1.80 billion shares changing hands, just short of last year's estimated daily average of 1.84 billion, while on Nasdaq, about 2.37 billion shares traded, exceeding last year's daily average of 2.02 billion.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of about 5 to 1 on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq.

Kathianne
10-20-2007, 11:57 AM
I remember the ex calling me from work, all upset. Seemed we'd 'lost' over $20k. Now mind you, that was including our deposits and the employer's. I just said, "Well if it 1929 again, should I skip the mortgage payment?" End of conversation.

Within months, it was made up and added to, though that was an interesting day.

Immanuel
10-20-2007, 12:27 PM
I remember it as well. Same thing as Kathianne.

Everyone was saying how terrible the market was and everyone was losing their life's savings. I laughed about it. I didn't have my degree yet but had been studying towards one in accounting and finance. I said, as long as you don't sell out in the next few days, you will be fine. And for once in my life, I was right.

Immie

April15
10-20-2007, 12:40 PM
Being unemployed at the time it made no difference to me or mine. It just was a cap to the raygoon financial joke.

Mr. P
10-20-2007, 12:56 PM
Things were tense that day...lots of gloom an doom by the media...John Q public was scared to death...sell,sell, sell...Then the big guys bought, bought, bought the cheap stuff...everything recovered in a few months..same as it will this time.

The market is NOT for the faint of heart.

Yurt
10-20-2007, 01:13 PM
I was walking home from junior high with my buds as we always did and stopped at the local market by downtown san diego and purchased our daily dose of chocodiles and we heard all the adults ragging on about some horrible disaster. I asked the guy who owned the store and he told me to go read a newspaper. I did. Pretty sad day. I think a movie, quicksilver, with kevin bacon came out shortly after.

Gaffer
10-20-2007, 02:38 PM
It didn't affect me at all. I don't and didn't own stocks. As a county employee I wasn't affected by it. But the media carried on their scare tactics. The market was saved by the rich who bought up a lot of the failing stocks. In the end they got richer.

April15
10-20-2007, 02:55 PM
Things were tense that day...lots of gloom an doom by the media...John Q public was scared to death...sell,sell, sell...Then the big guys bought, bought, bought the cheap stuff...everything recovered in a few months..same as it will this time.

The market is NOT for the faint of heart.This is just a 2.5% drop. Ain't shit. 87 was 25% or so.

manu1959
10-20-2007, 03:10 PM
yep...my office was across from my bosses at the time....he was on the phone buying, yes buying as much paper as he could....

82Marine89
10-20-2007, 03:59 PM
i was only 7, what was it like?



I was 23. I remember the locusts and the East River turning to blood. It was horrible.

diuretic
10-20-2007, 10:47 PM
I was actually negotiating a union labour contract in the months leading up to it and we were just about ready to settle when it happened. The employer (state government) used the panic to try and unsettle our side but we managed to get them to understand that there was no need to panic and no point in trying to bluff us. We got a very good deal. But anyway, yes I remember it well, there was wholesale fear everywhere.