Tony Soprano

Market Outlook: Watch Out, the Signs Can Be Deceiving

Since there is so much angst directed toward the Fed and the US Government, I decided to list some events, not all of them, that had dramatic ramifications on lives, cost and the psychology of our country. I started in 1906 because it’s just a little over a hundred years. Some of the events were world wide but still had a cause and effect on America and the world. As I compiled the list, I could not help but feel the great sacrifices that many American’s have made and what a resilient country, economy and government we have in American that stretches the entire globe.

The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and fire, registered 8.25 on the Richter scale; estimates range from 700 to 3,000 dead or missing, approximately 225,000 injuries and $400,000,000 in 1906 dollars.

Recession, May 1907-June 1908, 13 mo

Model T, 1908, came into popular usage

Recession Jan. 1910-Jan. 1912, 24 months

Completion of the Panama Canal, 1914 – 27,500 workers are estimated to have died

Recession Jan. 1913-Dec. 1914 23 months

World War I -- 116,708 killed – 33 billion

Spanish influenza, 1918, killed over 500,000 people in the worst single U.S. epidemic.

Recession Aug. 1918-March 1919 7 months

The first radio news program was broadcast August 31, 1920, in Detroit, Michigan

Recession Jan. 1920-July 1921, 18 months

Recession May 1923-July 1924 14 months

Recession Oct. 1926-Nov. 1927 13 months

Bell Labs gave important demonstration of television April 7, 1927

The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, flooded 27,000 square miles, 246 killed

The Great Depression, Black Tuesday, crop prices fell by 40 to 60 percent, after the panic of 1929, and during the first 10 months of 1930, 744 US banks failed. (In all, 9,000 banks failed during the 1930s). By 1933, depositors had lost $140 billion in deposits.

The Dirty Thirties, longest drought of 20th century. Peak periods were 1930, 1934, 1936, 1939, and 1940. The dust bowl covered 50 million acres in the south-central plains during the winter of 1935-1936.
Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, 400 killed

Recession May 1937-June 1938 13 months

World War II – 408,306 killed – 360 billion

Wartime Controls: 1941-1945 rationed consumer items ranging from sugar to gasoline

The United States developed the first atomic weapons during World War II

Recession Feb. 1945-Oct. 1945 8 months

The UN was founded in 1945 to replace the League of Nations

The Marshall Plan, July 1947 – 13 billion in economic and technical assistance were given to help the recovery of the European countries

On 16 December 1947, William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain succeeded in building the first practical point-contact transistor at Bell Labs

Cable television, formerly known as Community Antenna Television or CATV, was born in the mountains of Pennsylvania in 1948.

Israel declares independence, May 14, 1948,

Berlin's Crisis (June 24, 1948 to May 11, 1949) was one of the first major crises of the new Cold War

Recession Nov. 1948-Oct. 1949 11 months

The Soviet Union tested its first nuclear weapon ( Joe-1 ) in 1949

Chiang Kai-shek moves his government from communist China to Taipei, Taiwan (formerly Formosa), where he formally resumed his duties as president on March 1, 1950.

Korean War, July 1951 - July 1953 – 33,000 killed in action

The United Kingdom tested its first nuclear weapon ( Hurricane ) in 1952

Recession July 1953-May 1954 10 months

The Supreme Court rules on the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans., unanimously agreeing that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional – May 17, 1954.

The Suez Crisis of 1956 – was a military attack on Egypt by Britain, France, and Israel beginning on 29 October 1956.
Recession Aug. 1957-April 1958 8 months

Alaska becomes 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959

Hawaii becomes 50th state of the U.S. on August 21, 1959

U–2 Incident of 1960 occurred when an American U–2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union

France tested its first nuclear weapon in 1960 ( Gerboise Bleue )

Recession April 1960-Feb. 1961 10 months

The Cold War, some estimates shows $8 trillion was spent, worldwide, on nuclear and other weapons between 1945 and 1996

The Cuban Missile Crisis, Oct. 1962

Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, Ala.; April 16, 1963.

Vietnam War, 1963 – 47,378 killed in action

200,000 people join the March on Washington. Congregating at the Lincoln Memorial, participants listen as Martin Luther King delivers his famous I Have a Dream speech. Aug 28, 1963.

The murder of JFK, 1963 Nov

Good Friday Earthquake (1964) In Alaska, it was the fourth biggest earthquake recorded

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, Aug 1964

China tested its first nuclear weapon in 1964

President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Malcolm X, black nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is shot to death – Feb 21, 1965

1967 Arab-Israeli War – was fought between Israel and Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The nations of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Algeria also contributed troops and arms to the Arab forces.

The murder of Dr King, April 1968 and Bobby Kennedy, June 1968

The city riots of April, 1968 – 30 cities affected

President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.

Hurricane Camille, Aug 1969, 259 killed

Recession Dec. 1969-Nov. 1970 11 months

Stagflation of the 1970s began

Nixon first imposed wage and price controls on August 15, 1971

World Trade Center ribbon cutting ceremony was on April 4, 1973

1973 Arab-Israeli War or Yom Kippur War – a surprise joint attack by Egypt and Syria on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.

Oil Embargo, Oct 1973 long gas lines

Recession Nov. 1973-March 1975 16 months

Articles of Impeachment of Nixon started
(Approved by a vote of 27-11 by the House Judiciary Committee on Saturday, July 27, 1974.)

India's first nuclear test occurred on the 18th of May, 1974

Deregulation: 1974-1992 this era began when Nixon left office

Home computers start to enter retail markets, in 1977, and becoming common during the 1980s

Bell Labs launches first commercial cellular network in Chicago – 1978

Three Mile Island nuclear power plant crisis, March 1979

The Carter Administration decides to come to the aid of Chrysler Corp, 1979

Mount St. Helens eruption 1980

The US Savings and Loan crisis of the 1980s begins, more than 1,000 savings and loan institutions failed.

Recession Jan. 1980-July 1980 6 months

Prime reached unbelievable 20% in January 1981,

AIDS was first reported June 5, 1981 by the government – It is thought that more than one million people are living with HIV in the USA and that more than half a million have died after developing AIDS.

Recession July 1981-Nov. 1982 16 months

California earthquake 1983

The 87 market crash - Black Monday

Pakistan acquires the ability to carry out a nuclear explosion in 1987

California earthquake, 1989

Recession July 1990-March 1991 8 months

Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990

Nikkei stock index crashed by over 30,000 points, the average home near Tokyo cost well over $2 million before the crash in 1989

The Persian Gulf War, 1991 or Desert Storm Jan 1991

Hurricane Andrew 1992 very destructive United States hurricane

World Trade Center bombing, February 26, 1993

The Great USA Flood of 1993

The 1995 bailout of Mexico

East Asian Financial Crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of Asia beginning in the summer of (July) 1997

Intervention in the Former Yugoslavia – March 24-June 10, 1999, NATO bombing of FR Yugoslavia

The International Monetary Fund approves an immediate $5.3bil emergency payment for Brazil to rescue its economy, Dec 1998

IMF protects US banks in Russian bailout, July 1998, Russia receives $22.6 billion in loans

Dot Com Bubble, climaxed on March 10th, 2000 with the NASDAQ peaking at 5132.52

9/11 Attack, 2,974 people died

Recession March 2001-Nov. 2001 8 months, Airline Industry Collapsed

Enron bankruptcy in late 2001, employed 22,000

WorldCom, July 21, 2002, filed for Chapter 11
Iraq War, March 19, 2003 – 4,000 dead

Hurricane Katrina, late August 2005, 1,836 people lost their lives

Start of the Great Housing Recession/Depression or Sub-prime Recession, date to be determined.