80th Anniversary of the Dow’s Best Day Ever

This Friday marks the 80th anniversary of the greatest gain in the Dow’s history. On March 15th, 1933, the Dow soared 8.26 points to 62.10 for a gain of 15.34%. That would be like a gain of 2,200 points today.

Technically, I’m not sure if it counts as the greatest single-day gain because FDR had declared a national bank holiday. There hadn’t been any trading since March 3rd.

fredgraph03152013

The Dow had peaked more than three-and-a-half years earlier at more than 380. By the summer of 1932, the Dow was in the 40’s. Back then, the new president was sworn on March 4th. Some historians say that the long interlude from the election until FDR’s inauguration had caused uncertainty and that hurt the market. The 20th Amendment shifted Inauguration Day to January 20th. Interestingly, the new Amendment was ratified a few week before, but it didn’t take effect until October.

Posted by on March 13th, 2013 at 10:42 am


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