Dow Drawdowns

At the lows today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw it’s biggest intraday point decline in history (back to 1900). At the close, with the Dow down 4.6%, or 1175 points, it was only the 108th worst percentage drop in history. The last time we had a Dow drawdown this big in a single day was in August 2011. The Average was at 10,700 then and today it closed at 24,345 – more than twice as high.

So, it definitely registers, but it’s way scarier sounding in terms of points than it was in percentages. While we’ve never had an 1,100 point Dow decline in a single day, this is a testament to the overall high levels we’ve climbed to. But we’ve had 107 worse days before.

Two other things worth keeping in mind, from my pal Eddy:

The Dow is down -0.4% year to date.

— Eddy Elfenbein (@EddyElfenbein) February 5, 2018

Today’s point loss was more than the entire Dow was worth in 1984.

— Eddy Elfenbein (@EddyElfenbein) February 5, 2018

Now we have to decide whether or not we want to blame this on former President Obama or on current President Clinton. Obviously, there’s no reason to let either of them escape accountability.

We should also consider what impact, if any, this recent action may have on incoming Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell in terms of how far they want to go on rate hikes this year.

I think it’s worth pointing out that some people are selling because the Constitutional Crisis is now a full-blown thing, no longer an open question. Some people are selling because it’s a growth scare and higher wages / interest rates might take a chunk out corporate profits. And then some people are selling because they aren’t people at all, but software programs that have been programmed to sell when others are selling.