• Thought of the Day

    Thought of the Day

    2000: If we never know the future, we never know the future! When we think we know, we are setting ourselves up for trouble. Trend is not destiny: we are no more able to extend smooth lines into the future than a sailor can observe what lies ahead in choppy seas. The safest management system is to view uncertainty as a constant rather than a variable.

    –Peter L. Bernstein, The Heart of the Matter, Economics & Portfolio Strategy, September 15, 2002, p. 5.

Today in Financial History

1997: The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index closes above the 800 mark for the first time, finishing the day at 802.77, having doubled in less than six years.

David M. Blitzer, chief investment strategist, Standard & Poor's Corp.

1970: After 178 years, the New York Stock Exchange finally elects its first African-American member, Joseph L. Searles III. Lest any of its members be embarrassed by having to decide whether to let him sit next to them in the NYSE's private luncheon club, the Exchange gives Searles his own table. Hit by the bear market of 1970, Searles is forced to give up his membership that November, but the color barrier has at last been crossed.