NEW YORK — The the last time trading day of 2008 on Wall Street provided a tender-hearted end to an abysmal year — the worst before this the Great Depression, wiping out $6.9 trillion in stock market wealth.
Six years of stock gains disappeared as the economy crumbled and markets crashed about the globe, shaking the confidence of professional and individual investors alike.
But the chaos went far on the other side of the stock market. Credit markets that drive lending became paralyzed, plunging the country further into recession and touching off an unprecedented rush for the safety of Treasury bills, notes and bonds.
Commodities markets, usually ignored by the agency of most investors, soared upon the body speculative buying then collapsed whenever it became transparent the world arrangement was in calamity and that record high prices, including oil’s summer peak more than $147 a barrel, were unjustified.
“It was a feeling of flailing,” declared Jerry Webman, chief economist at Oppenheimer Funds. “People couldn’t get a grasp because there were not obvious historical precedents.”
By the year’sitting end, many analysts were predicting 2009 would be better, but that recovery would be wearisome similar to investors, shaken by the devastation to their portfolios, U.S. companies and the overall economy, remain reluctant to bribe.
“I think this may be much more of a show-me emporium than we’re used to. The place of traffic is going to subsist looking for some stabilization, increases in earnings, a few more positives in advance of it begins to recover,” said Webman.
Wall Street’s stats for 2008 provide evidence of how stunningly terrible the year was:
• The average price of a share listed adhering the New York Stock Exchange plunged 45 percent to $41.14 by the end of the year from $75.01 a year earlier.
• The Dow Jones pertaining average fell 33.8 percent for the year and 38 percent from its record close of 14,165.53 in October 2007, form it the Dow’session worst year because 1931, while the country was in the Great Depression.
• The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, the indicator most watched by market pros, slumped 38.5 percent in 2008 and 42.3 percent from its 2007 high of 1,565.15.
• Investors imperceptible $6.9 trillion as relentless selling reduced the value of stocks across the market. That amount, measured by the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 composite index, represented 38 percent of the total value of U.S. stocks at the start of 2008.
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