2009: By Far The Worst Start To A Year Since 1900

The Dow's current decline of 23.21% is by far the worst start to a year for the index this many days in since 1900.  The second worst year at this point was 14.25% in 1920.  There have been 19 prior years where the Dow was down 5% or more at this point, and only four of those years ultimately finished in positive territory.  Below we highlight the five years where the Dow started the year down 10% or more at this point.  In 1920, the Dow continued lower for the rest of the year, but in the three other years, the market ended higher from the level that it was at 41 trading days in. 

One positive is that 1933 is one of the five years that started off down 10% this many trading days in.  While this did occur during the Great Depression, it was also FDR's first year in office.  With many comparing Obama and his plans to FDR and the New Deal, it's interesting that the market got off to a very bad start in 1933 after he was elected, but reversed when he took office (in March) and finished his first year 66.7% higher!  We can only hope that 2009 turns out that way, even though it doesn't say much for 2010, 2011, 2012, etc.

 

Comments

[max]

Unfortunately Obama basically has told us he could give a rats ass about wall street and the markets

[chad]

So What?

[spinotter]

One day this obsession with material objects will disappear. Will the human race be around to enjoy its liberation?