On March 10, 2000 the NASDAQ touched 5132.50 and President Clinton's approval numbers looked just as grand. What we knew only in retrospect was that the tech market had peaked and the Greenspan/Clinton crash had begun. The crash of March 2000 was the worst stock market crash since the famous one of 1929. It still is, no matter how much the current president tells us he inherited the worst economy since FDR.
The NASDAQ finally hit bottom in October 2002 when it was clear that President Bush's economic program would make it through Congress. That bottom was a NASDAQ of 1100. The Greenspan/Clinton crash had erased 79% of value from the most vibrant market the world has ever seen.
Yesterday the NASDAQ touched an 18 month high and stalled. It sold off on higher volume in the final hour before the close. But here's the sad truth: when it hit that 18 month high it was still 54% off the highs of 10 years ago.
Happy anniversary. It's been a long scary ride for ten years.
