• Thought of the Day

    Thought of the Day

    2000: Occasional outbreaks of those two super-contagious diseases, fear and greed, will forever occur in the investment community. The timing of these epidemics will be unpredictable. And the market aberrations produced by them will be equally unpredictable, both as to duration and degree. Therefore, we never try to anticipate the arrival or departure of either disease. Our goal is more modest: we simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.

    Warren Buffett, chairmans letter, Berkshire Hathaway annual report, 1986,

Today in Financial History

1947: Edwin H. Land, founder of Polaroid Corp., demonstrates the instant camera to 650 scientists assembled at the annual meeting of the Optical Society of America. Never before has it been possible to develop a snapshot within a single minute. The Land Instant Camera sells at an initial price of $89.75; although Polaroid loses money on it at first, it goes on to make the company one of the great growth stocks of postwar America.

The Wall Street Journal, July 6, 1999, p. B2

1914: The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (formerly the Association of Stock Brokers in Hong Kong) is established.

Museum of American Financial History

1820: The New York Stock Exchange begins charging new members an initiation fee of $25 (or roughly $375 in modern money).

"Today in NYSE History," at www.nyse.com/about/TodayInNYSE.html