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The Markets During Kennedy's Assassination
Money Matters
The Markets During
Kennedy’s Assassination
November 22, 2003
Presented by The Money Management Firm, Inc.
www.moneymanagementfirm.com
eBay ID: optionsforyou
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One day a lawyer was riding in his limousine when he saw a guy eating grass. He told the driver to stop. He got out and asked him, "Why are you eating grass?" The man replied, "I'm so poor, I can't afford a thing to eat." So the lawyer said, "Poor guy, come back to my house." The guy then said, "But I have a wife and three kids." The lawyer told him to bring them along. When they were all in the car, the poor man said, "Thanks for taking us back to your house, it is so kind of you." The lawyer said, "You're going to love it there, the grass is a foot tall."
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Fifty-eight percent of Americans weren’t born when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. I’m in the minority; I can remember his funeral.
The stock market had been in rally mode since the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. From that time until the end of October 1963, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 35%. Then, in early November, stocks started falling, due in large part to the coup in South Vietnam. The United States’ involvement in that war was just starting to heat up; we had sent thousands of military advisors (but no combat troops) to the country. Many former administration officials say Kennedy didn’t like South Vietnam’s leader and didn’t lift a finger to help him when the coup started. That set the tone for much of the month.
Stocks traded quietly in the early hours of November 22. Then, when the first reports of the shooting came to the exchange just after 1:30 eastern time, stocks started selling off, as they often do during major world crises. Less than one-half hour later, when Kennedy’s death was confirmed, the sell-off accelerated. By the end of the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.89% of its value.
As calamitous as the assassination was, its effects did not linger in the stock market. By the end of 1963, stocks had recovered all of their November losses. Six months after the assassination, the Dow Jones index was 12.04% higher. One year after the event, the index was up 21.58%.
The world event with the most impact on stocks was the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. When stocks resumed trading on the following Monday, the index lost 7.12% of its value.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Finger has been investing and trading for more than 20 years. He runs a subscription-based website and offers both free and paid eBooks, as well as a free newsletter, Money Matters, at his website, www.moneymanagementfirm.com.
Written by: John Finger
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