subject: A Review Of The Stock Market During The 2000s [print this page] To say that the equities markets have been erratic during the last ten years is somewhat of an understatement. There's never been volatility like this in both directions during such a short span.
Looking back to the beginning of the decade, things really opened up with a bang. Internet stocks were in play, and the tech boom brought about new highs in both the NASDAQ and the DJIA.
More people were trading stocks than ever before. This was a craze that the world had never witnessed, and everyone wanted a piece of the action. New accounts were springing up left and right.
Unfortunately, reality hit soon after, and it hit main street pretty hard. The markets retreated from their all-time highs within a matter of months. Things plummeted as the reality of the tech bubble set in.
To think that the indexes were as high as they were seems ludicrous in hindsight. Within the span of a few months, the markets had corrected by over 20%. Late 2001 was even worse, as the events of September 11th brought about new financial worries.
Things slowly rebounded during the next few years, until the Dow Jones industrial average rallied to an all-time high in 2006, breaking 14,000 at one point. Many feared another bubble that was bound to correct itself.
It wasn't just the stock market this time around. Many people chose to bet on oil prices, which hit highs of over $140 per barrel during 2008. People were quitting their jobs to trade forex currencies and the market hype was almost back to its old state.
The years of 2008 and 2009 were sour ones in the financial world. While the forex money continued to pour in, the rest of the markets experienced a downturn that crippled millions of investors. Can we rebound from here? We may very well be in the midst of that now.
