Clearly, the tremors of historic happenings are felt by privately held firms and their shareholders. But to what degree, and for how long?
Below is a look at the how the Dow Jones Industrial Average reacted to a dozen major events. Prevailing US economic conditions and other factors should also be taken into account.
Next Six
trading months Event day later
12/7/41 Pearl Harbor -3.5% -9.5%
6/26/50 Korean War -0.8 7.4
10/22/62 Cuban missile crisis -1.9 25.1
11/22/63 JFK assassination -2.9 12.0
2/26/65 Vietnam war -0.4 -0.8
8/8/74 Nixon resigns -1.6 -10.7
11/5/79 Iran hostage crisis 0.8 1.2
1/28/86 Challenger explodes 1.2 15.4
8/2/90 Iraq invades Kuwait -1.2 -5.8
1/16/91 Desert Storm 0.9 13.7
9/11/01 WTC attack -7.2 -
10/7/01 US reprisals begin -0.6 -
