5 years ago the market was in the mid-14,000 territory.
Did I miss something? Are we in a depression? WTF?
Where was the Dow Jones when Obama took office?
BY
JOHN JAGERSON
Updated Dec 19, 2018
When President Obama took office on Jan. 20, 2009, the
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) continued its
credit crisis slump and fell to 7,550.29, the lowest inaugural performance for the Dow since its creation in 1896. The
S&P 500 and the
Nasdaq took similar hits on inauguration day, dropping 5.3 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively, and fourth quarter
earnings reports were on track to drop more than 20 percent compared to the same quarter the previous year.
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Bank stocks had been hit prior to Obama taking office, and the selling continued the day he was sworn in, with the banking sector in general declining by 30 percent. Bank of America Corporation (
BAC) dropped 29 percent, and Citigroup Inc. (
C) sank 20 percent.
While the economic backslide may have seemed to indicate that the American public was less than confident in their newly elected president, the dip was, instead, widely credited to a continued lack of confidence in the failing economy left behind by the previous administration. The market found a
bottom in March 2009 and entered one of the longest
bull marketsin history.