Investing

The Bull Market Turns 8 Years Old: Shocking News Headlines Then Versus Now

Jon C. Ogg

Published: March 6, 2017 4:04 pm

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 2:12 pm

2017 may feel like it has been a year of surprises. The reality is that 2017 is just a continuation of yet another year of surprises. What is amazing now is that the current bull market is now turning 8 years old. 24/7 Wall St. has decided to feature a then versus now, and it is important to recall that the attitude of the investing public is truly night and day.

Stocks have now hit all-time highs in 2017 in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 Index, and even in the NASDAQ. Investors have bought after every single sell-off for over 5 years now, and those same investors are also looking for new ideas and overlooked opportunities.

The S&P 500 Index bottomed at 666.79 on March 6, 2009. That was at 2,376.75 on last look, up a whopping 256%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a low of 6,469.95 on March 6, 2009. After having hit 21,000  The Dow was last trading at 20,972 for a gain of 224%.

The NASDAQ hit a low of 1,265.52 on March 9, 2009, one trading day after the S&P and the Dow hit their lows. At about 5,850 on last look, that is a gain of 362%.

The 10-year Treasury yield on March 6, 2009 was at a low of 2.77% — yet that yield is 2.50% some 8 years later.

CNN’s closing bell title on March 6, 2009: Dow fights back… The blue-chip indicator musters a gain after hitting a 12-year low on the weak jobs report and bank woes.

Now think about something for March 6, 2009 — The BLS reported on that day that employers had cut a whopping 651,000 jobs from their payrolls in February of 2009. This coming jobs report is calling for close to a gain of 200,000.

It was also on March 6, 2008 that the BLS reported that unemployment rose to 8.1% from 7.6% the prior month — versus less than 5% now.

Also noted back on March 6, 2009:

• GM’s survival was in doubt.
• Citigroup shares broke the $1.00 mark.
• GE shares hit $6.66 — they are $30 now.
• Split-adjusted: Apple shares were at $12.9 on March 6, 2009 and were $11.87 the next day, versus $139 today.
• Boeing shares dipped under $30 on March 6 and 9 (2009) — versus $180 now.
• The Dow was down over 6% for the week, and was down almost 25% year-to-date.
• The Dow was down 53% versus its all-time high on October 9, 2007.
• Wells Fargo slashed its quarterly dividend by 85% to $0.05 from $0.34) to save $5 billion per year.
• General Electric was just starting to bounce back from 18-year lows hit earlier in the week.
• NYMEX crude was $45.52 per barrel on March 6, 2009– versus $53.25 in 2017.
• COMEX gold was at $942.70 per ounce on March 6, 2009 — versus $1,227 in 2017.

Here are just some of the 24/7 Wall St. headlines grabbed around business coverage going into March of 2009 and in the days following the v-bottom:

• AIG’s Plan To Bleed The Government Dry
• Blackstone: 45% of the world’s wealth has been destroyed.
• JPMorgan Chase All But Murders Its Dividend
• When Stockpiling Gold Becomes Hoarding Gold
• A Call for $3,000 Gold
• United Technologies (UTX)  will cut 11,600 jobs.
• RBS Loses $34 Billion: Banks Still Have Capacity To Surprise
• Berkshire’s Annual Letter: Pain Yesterday, More Pain Tomorrow
• Banker: “Take This TARP and Shove It”
• (NYT) Some banks want to return government aid because of attached strings
• Citigroup Shares Off 40% After Government Deal
• Saving Private Ryan: Sending The Financial World To Save Eastern Europe
• YouTube Passes 100 Billion Views A Month And No One Cares
• A Solution For Troubled Newspapers And Magazines: Internet-Only Products
• Roubini, From Doom To Less-Doom
• The AIG “Save Us Or We Will Destroy You” Card
• Jim Cramer Picks DJIA 5,320 As Absolute DJIA Bottom
• Sirius XM Holders Get To Live Longer
• Should The Market Ever Go Up 7% In A Day? (March 11)
• Freddie Mac Burns Another $23.9 Billion
• Ten Stocks That Should Double (GE, GCI, AAPL, YHOO, MSFT, COP, XOM, CVX, BP, CBS, SONC, M, C) (March 17)
• Meredith Whitney’s Replacement at Oppenheimer Far Less Negative on Banks (March 17)
• FOMC Massively Gooses Government Balance Sheet