Factoid of the Day: Dow Post Worst Retreats Since 1937

In the '33-'36 recovery most economic measures (except unemployment) got back to 1928-29 levels. 1937 saw the start of the "Depression within the Depression" as industrial production fell 33% and GDP 18.2% between May '37 and June '38. Unemployment went from 14% to 19% (it had been around 3% in the summer of '29 and hit almost 25% in 1932).
From Bloomberg:

...The S&P 500 slid 60.66 points, or 5.7 percent, to 996.23, extending its 2008 tumble to 32 percent in the market's worst yearly slump since 1937. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 508.39, or 5.1 percent, to 9,447.11, giving it a 29 percent retreat in 2008 that would also be the worst in 71 years. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 5.8 percent to 1,754.88.

``We've approached the edge of the cliff,'' Leon Cooperman, 65, who manages $6 billion at hedge fund Omega Advisors Inc., said at the Value Investing Congress in New York. ``Do we go over the cliff or begin to recede? History says we recede, but there's no guarantee. This is the most difficult financial environment I've lived through.''>>>MORE