In the Black Wednesday
August 11, 2010mike Comments OffEveryone knows the story of Black Tuesday (10/29/1929), the worst day in the history of the market*. What very few people know is about the best day in the history of the market, a day I like to call In the Black Wednesday.
I understand the analogy, black is the color of darkness, but typically black in accounting terms is positive (red is negative). So I have deemed Wednesday October 30th, 1929 to be In the Black Wednesday. Yes, that’s right, the day after the worst crash in the history of the market* was the BEST day in the history of the market (still true).
What does that mean? The Great Depression wasn’t so great? No not at all, I would never discount the troubles our nation faced during the Great Depression. It simply means that markets have a way of righting themselves and that looking in a minute or a day gives a very poor picture of what’s going on.
There is an old saying “… can’t see the forest through the trees” meaning we need to look at the big picture. Sure all in all 1929 right up to World War II was a very trying time for the American and the fact that biggest up market day occurred in the middle of the Depression has no effect on the time period as a whole and was simply a knee jerk reaction to the previous day.
There is another old saying “look at the glass as half empty or half full”. It matters not whether times are good or times are good or times are bad, it matters how you look at things.
Today I call the Second In the Black Wednesday. It matters not what the DOW, NASDAQ, S&P, “market” does today it matters my outlook on today and on life. The times and troubles (up days and down) of 2008 are ancient history, let’s look at today as a new beginning.
* Until 10/19/87