Nasdaq 5000: Brave Look Back

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The press has been all over this Nasdaq 5000 anniversary, and after reading more than a few articles on the subject, here is what I've gleaned:

Apparently, everyone bought exactly at the top and held all the way down, not selling until the market bottomed.

Only stupid people bought tech stocks. Smart people bought blue-chip stocks paying good dividends. Warren Buffett is, of course, the quintessential "smart person."

Not one person who shorted a tech stock made money on it.

In fact, no one made any money with tech stocks from 2000 through 2002.

Every CEO of a tech company was either (a) an idiot or (b) a liar.

The bubble was pretty much the fault of all the Wall Street analysts.

For the next 100 years, whenever the Nasdaq goes up, it's a bubble.

Whenever folks get excited about anything, it's the sign of a top. Unless, of course, we're talking about Warren Buffett's confab!

Today, the Nasdaq Composite:

Kindred Healthcare(KND Quote)

,

AudioCodes(AUDC Quote)

,

Xerox(XRX Quote)

,

Marvell Technology(MRVL Quote)

and

Polycom (PLCM Quote)

.

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Charts produced by TC2000, which is a registered trademark of Worden Brothers Inc.

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And that is the final word from Dupont University, where you should know ahead of time that I'm a fan of Tom Wolfe. With that out of the way, I thoroughly enjoyed his latest book -- I Am Charlotte Simmons -- although I can understand it's not for everyone. It's fairly close, though, in quality to The Bonfire of the Vanities and A Man in Full.