A Year in the Life of Dow Jones When the Dow plunged yesterday I was flipping through cable news and couldn’t find anyone, anywhere who would contextualize what the numbers meant.  Yes, 630 plus points (or about 5.5%) were lost from the day before but how did that compare to the year? For that matter, where were we last August? Enter data gleaned from Wolfram|Alpha. Above is the monthly low, mean and high of the Dow Jones Industrial Average from August 2010 to yesterday. For those wondering, here’s a flashback of past August lows: August 2011: 10810 August 2010: 9986 August 2009: 9135 August 2008: 11284 August 2007: 12846 August 2006: 11076 August 2005: 10397  Now watch as we jump back in time a bit: August 1995: 4581 August 1985: 1313 August 1975: 791 August 1925: 125 And all that because the cable wouldn’t tell me that one little thing I wanted to know.

A Year in the Life of Dow Jones

When the Dow plunged yesterday I was flipping through cable news and couldn’t find anyone, anywhere who would contextualize what the numbers meant. 

Yes, 630 plus points (or about 5.5%) were lost from the day before but how did that compare to the year? For that matter, where were we last August?

Enter data gleaned from Wolfram|Alpha. Above is the monthly low, mean and high of the Dow Jones Industrial Average from August 2010 to yesterday.

For those wondering, here’s a flashback of past August lows:

  • August 2011: 10810
  • August 2010: 9986
  • August 2009: 9135
  • August 2008: 11284
  • August 2007: 12846
  • August 2006: 11076
  • August 2005: 10397 

Now watch as we jump back in time a bit:

  • August 1995: 4581
  • August 1985: 1313
  • August 1975: 791
  • August 1925: 125

And all that because the cable wouldn’t tell me that one little thing I wanted to know.

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