The Stock Market Game Week in Review: Oct. 15-19
Oct. 19, 1987, or "Black Monday" as it is often referred to, is typically remembered as one of the worst days in stock market history. It's the date when the Dow Jones Industrial Average (or "the Dow") dropped by 508 points to 1739, and similar market drops occurred around the world. The Black Monday decline was the largest one-day percentage decline (22.6%) in stock market history. The event marked the end of a five-year "bull" market that had seen the Dow rise from 776 points in August 1982 to a high of 2,722.42 points in August 1987.
20 Years Later
While
the Dow dropped more than 366 points on Friday, Oct. 19, 2007, Madonna had a good week -- a very good week. She and concert promoter
Live Nation
(LYV) - Get Report
announced a deal on Tuesday, Oct. 16 that will give the company a stake in the Material Girl's albums, tours, merchandising, films and other music-related projects. The deal is worth approximately $120 million over 10 years.
Unfortunately for others, last week was not as kind. Third-
quarter
earnings again captured the headlines and many within the banking community could use more than a "ray of light" to break out of their current slump. Banks and
brokerages continued to suffer during the third quarter in the fallout from the
subprime
mortgage crisis. Homeowners
defaulting on their loans at an alarming rate triggered a global aversion for
risk that caused the
credit markets to freeze up.
Bank of America's
(BAC) - Get Report
plunging profits surprised Wall Street on Thursday, Oct. 18 as the company reported a third-quarter decline in net
profit of 32%. The company, considered a good indicator of the overall health of the
sector since it has branches throughout the country, stated "significant dislocations" in the
capital markets led its profits to fall. The disappointing results follow similar reports from other financial companies, including
Citigroup
(C) - Get Report
,
Washington Mutual
(WM) - Get Report
and
Wachovia
(WB) - Get Report
. Citigroup saw its profit drop 57% in the third quarter while Washington Mutual slid to a five-year low last week due to disappointing earnings, and Wachovia also missed third-quarter projections.
JPMorgan
(JPM) - Get Report
was the only major bank able to report numbers impressing investors.
InvestWrite
If you haven't done so already, now is the time to get your students ready to participate in
InvestWrite -- The Stock Market Game's national and state-wide essay competition. The program allows students to synthesize what they are learning during the trading simulation while strengthening their writing skills by responding to a real-world investing scenario. To help prepare your students for the program, be sure to check out the "How to InvestWrite" lesson in the
Teacher Support Center. It's located in the "In the Classroom" section under "Lesson Sequence." Essays are due Nov. 30, 2007. Good luck to those participating.
This article was written by a staff member of The Stock Market Game.