TOP EDUCATIONS SEARCH ENGINES

1903: Railroad stocks had risen for over 6 years, more than tripling without a serious setback, when they topped in September 1902. Their yearlong bear market was just getting started when 1903 rolled around, and their eventual collapse would drag down the industrials.

1906: Final bull market high in late January, and the DJIA was nearly cut in half before the end of 1907.

1914: A 5-year bear market, which began with an unsuccessful assault on all-time highs in 1909, climaxes in July 1914 when authorities shut down the New York Stock Exchange at the outset of World War I.

1917: After stocks more than double to a November 1916 final top in the first couple of years of the War, in which America gets rich supplying the Allies in Europe, the market drops 40% by December 1917, as direct U.S. involvement in the conflict looms.

1929-31: Stocks crash after an explosive rally in the summer of 1929 caps an 8-year bull run, ushering in the Great Depression. Optimistic investors prematurely bid stocks higher to begin each of the next 2 years, only to regret it.

• 1934: After more than doubling in less than a year, the new bull market stalls following fresh highs in February 1934.
• 1937: A March top culminates an advance of nearly 5 years and 372% in the DJIA before the short but severe 1937-38 “Roosevelt Recession,” which saw industrial production fall faster than during 1929-32 and cut the Dow in half.
• 1946: A last thrust higher following a 10% February correction merely postpones the inevitable. The 129% DJIA gain in a span of more than 4 years culminating in a May 29, 1946 peak grossly understates the extent of the advance leading up to the high. The S&P does significantly better than that, and other averages leave the blue chips in the dust. Railroad stocks nearly triple, and the Dow Jones Utility Average quadruples.

1966: Another bull market launches in the second year of the decade, only to die in the 6th, as the Dow touches 1000 for the first time en route to a February 9, 1966 closing high.

• 1994: On February 2, the anniversary date that preceded the 1946 correction, and also in the 4th year of a bull market, stocks begin a 10% correction, as in 1946. This time, however, rather than quickly racing to a final top after the correction is over, the stock market trades in a narrow range throughout the rest of the year before busting out higher in 1995.
• 2001: The 1990s bull market amazingly lasts over 9 years, taking the NASDAQ Composite from a mere 325 to above 5000 in March 1990. After a run like that, the ensuing bear market wasn’t nearly complete despite a reflex rally in early 2005.