Monday, September 29, 2008

How bad was Monday, really?

From MarketWatch:
Commentary: From long-term perspective, Monday plunge isn't unique

Monday's market plunge may have been the worst point drop ever for the Dow Jones Industrial Average but in percentage terms it came nowhere close. It dropped 7% on Monday, or just one-third as much as the 22.6% decline in the 1987 crash.
In fact, there have been 16 other occasions since the Dow was created in 1896 in which the Dow's percentage drop was greater than it was Monday. That works out to an average of every seven years.

It furthermore has been almost exactly seven years -- Sept. 17, 2001 -- since the last time the Dow dropped by a greater amount than it did on Monday.
From at least one statistical perspective, this all adds up to Monday's drop being overdue....MORE