"This Day in Financial History"

From the Wall Street Journal's Jason Zweig:

October 2nd:

1990: The Japanese stock market has its best day yet on record, as the Nikkei 225 index skyrockets 2,676.55 points, or 13.2%, to close at 22,849.39. Investors are euphoric over rumors that the Japanese government will intervene to stop the crashing Nikkei from falling further, and a buying panic ensues. By mid-day nearly a third of the major Japanese stocks haven't even traded, since no sellers can be found to match the swarms of buyers. With sellers so outnumbered, even by day's end nearly 10% of all stocks haven't been able to tradeÑand, on the futures market, buyers outnumber sellers by more than 28,000 to one. Unfortunately, the whole thing turns out to be a "dead-cat bounce," as the Nikkei soon resumes falling.
Source: The New York Times, October 3, 1990, pp. D1, D6; The Wall Street Journal, October 3, 1990, p. C1. 
 
1803: The U.S. Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, under which the U.S. pays France less than 3 cents an acre for 828,000 square miles of territory stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rockies and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. In the stroke of a pen, the United States nearly doubles in size, and a huge frontier of opportunity opens for its citizens. The U.S. finances the deal by borrowing $11.25 million in 6% bonds from European investors.
Source: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/today/oct20.html; http://www.archives.gov/exhibit_hall/american_originals_iv/sections/louisiana_purchase_treaty.html 

1929: William Peter Hamilton, editor of The Wall Street Journal and one of the leading advocates of the Dow Theory" of technical analysis predicts the coming demise of the bull market in a lead editorial entitled "The Turn in the Tide." However since Hamilton had already predicted the death of the bull market in January 1927, June 1928, and July 1928 nobody listens. This time -- if only by sheer luck -- he turns out to be right as the stock market crashes just three days later."
Source: Peter L. Bernstein, Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street (Free Press, New York, 1992), p. 29.

Erratum:1929's "Black Thursday"* occurred on Oct. 24 and Mr. Hamilton's editorial was published on the 21st, not Oct. 2.
This is a simple typo (and subsequent misplacement) as Mr. Zweig has correctly dated the editorial in other posts (see #33 here)

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That perfectly droll line "However since Hamilton had already predicted the death of the bull market in January 1927, June 1928, and July 1928 nobody listens" may be the funniest thing we see today and is a definite contender for the prestigious Climateer Line of the Day (CLoD). Thanks Jason.

*Black Thursday was followed by "Black Monday" and "Black Tuesday".
It was a rough week.