1990: The Dow Jones Industrial Average bottoms out at 2365.10, down 42.82 for the day, as high interest rates, the banking recession, and Saddam Hussein's aggression in the Persian Gulf take their toll on stocks. The next day, the great bull market of the 1990s begins.

1982: After nearly 17 years of going nowhere, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finally rises above the peak it set in the bull market of the 1960s, closing at 1012.79, its first close ever above the previous record high of 995.15, set on February 9, 1966.

1834: The Boston Stock Exchange is officially born.

Museum of American Financial History

1817: The New York Stock Exchange formally bans negotiated fees, compelling all its members to charge fixed commission rates to the investing public — including members of the brokers' own families. Commissions will remain non-negotiable for the next 158 years.

Walter Werner and Steven Smith, Wall Street (Columbia University Press, New York, 1991), pp. 29, 217.