Historical Thought for the Day
April 15, 2010
Thought for the day:
We seem to be on firm ground in repeating the old aphorisms that in speculation when to buy - and sell - is more important than what to buy, and also that almost by mathematical law more speculators must lose than can profit.
Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, Security Analysis (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1934)
This day in financial history:
1912: Early in the morning, after striking an iceberg around midnight, the Titanic sinks to the bottom of the North Atlantic. Making a cold calculation about the uninsured value of the vessel, and counting the 1,500 fatalities at zero, the stock market crunches $2.6 million off the total capitalization of International Mercantile Marine Co., the owner of the doomed oceanliner.
Source: Arun Khanna, "The Titanic: the Untold Economic Story," Financial Analysts Journal, September/October 1998, pp. 16-17; http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/uc53.1.jpg; http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/stagser/s1259/121/7589/html/0000.html
1926: Charles A. Lindbergh makes one of the earliest commercial air flights, zipping between Chicago and St. Louis in a deHaviland DH-4 biplane to deliver a sack of mail for Robertson Aircraft Corp., under contract from the U.S. Post Office. Robertson later grows into American Airlines.
Source: http://www.aa.com/content/amrcorp/corporateInformation/facts/history.jhtml; http://www.thegreyeagles.org/Story%204.htm
1954: Under a new provision of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, April 15th becomes the due date for individual tax returns.
Source: http://www.ustreas.gov/education/history/events/04-apr.shtml#15
1955: A middle-aged milkshake-mixer salesman named Ray Kroc opens the first McDonald's franchise in Des Plaines, Ill. It racks up $366.12 in sales of 15-cent hamburgers and 10-cent french fries on the first day.
Source: http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/mcd_history_pg1.html; http://www.wiley.com/products/subject/business/forbes/kroc.html; http://www.mcdonalds.com/corporate/info/museum/index.html
1998: The New York Stock Exchange implements its "circuit-breaker" rules, mandating trading halts when the market drops at least 10%.
Source: www.nyse.com
Source: Jason Zweig
