Today was a good day in the markets. For some perspective, take a look at this chart. The markets are still tracking the course they set during the Great Depression. Even if we start to see a rally, here’s some perspective from today’s Barron’s.
Recent volatility doesn’t even begin to compare to what it was like during the 1930s.
In fact, there were eight calendar months during the decade of the 1930s in which the Dow rose or fell by more than 20%. The month with the biggest Dow move was April 1933, when the Dow rose by 40.2%. In August 1932, furthermore, the Dow rose by 34.8%.
The biggest monthly losses during that decade were almost as big. The largest came in September 1931, when the Dow lost 30.7%.
A quick look at a Yahoo! chart of the Nikkei over the past 20+ years also shows up upswings followed by even bigger losses.
For the foreseeable future any time we see some upside from Mr. Market, the very tough question will continue to be, is this rally the real thing or a head fake?
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