The Doolittle Raid 75 Years On

Seventy-five years ago today marked the daring Doolittle Raid over Tokyo. (This is also the 242nd anniversary of Paul Revere’s ride; “On the 18th of April in ‘75, hardly a man is now alive, who remembers that famous day and year.”)

The stock market was in rough shape at the time of the raid. Since Pearl Harbor, stocks had been drifting lower, but the ultimate low came on April 28, 1942 when the Dow hit 92.92.

Within two years, the Dow was up 50%, and it doubled by 1945. By 1955, the Dow was up fivefold, and it doubled again ten years later. The market really didn’t see any pause until 1966 when inflation started to have a major impact. Twenty four years after FDR’s speech, the Dow had advanced close to 1,000% and that’s not counting dividends.

Posted by on April 18th, 2017 at 10:15 am


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