Historical Thought for the Day
January 21, 2010
Thought for the day:
Quarterly, is it, money reproaches me: "Why do you let me lie here wastefully? I am all you never had of goods and sex. You could get them still by writing a few cheques." Philip Larkin, "Money" (1973 This day in financial history:
1980: With inflation raging, gold hits a record price of $850 per ounce. In the jewelry district along 47th Street in Manhattan, people wait excitedly to sell their rings and bracelets for cash. Gold dealers predict that the price will hit $1,000 per ounce by July, and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury G. William Miller has just announced, "At the moment, it doesn't seem an appropriate time to sell our gold."
As Fort Knox remains fully laden with its 220 million ounces, it turns out to be the best time in history to sell gold: On January 22, the gold price falls by $145, and by 1991 it is below $600 per ounce. By 1985, the price of gold has slumped to around $300. Source: Peter L. Bernstein, The Power of Gold: The History of an Obsession (John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2000), pp. 357-358.
1993: Just over a year after breaking the 600 mark, the NASDAQ Composite Index breaks the 700 barrier, finishing the day at 700.77. Source: www.nasdaq.com
Source: Jason Zweig
