Business Week Covers - Death of Equities

August 13, 1979: The Death of Equities - How inflation is destroying the stock market.

While the US went through a severe recession from 1980-1982 and the stock market went nowhere in that period, 1982 marked the beginning of the greatest 20 year bull market in history.

Business Week Covers - The Stock Market Boom

February 2000: "Special Report: After 107 months, the American economic juggernaut is still going strong. What went right?"

A 2 year recession began in 2000, accompanied by a large drop in the stock market over that period.

Business Week Covers - The Internet Age

December 1999:"Internet mania paid off big time for investors in 1999, and incredibly, the dot.coms have more room to run in 2000. Despite a prolonged midyear sell-off that ran from April to August, Internet stocks are up an incredible 154% this year through Dec. 10, as measured by the Dow Jones Internet Composite Index of 40 stocks. Investment pros doubt that Net stocks can repeat this kind of performance next year. Still, they see huge growth ahead for the Internet and believe that Net stocks will continue their drive north."

The dot com stocks peaked in March 2000 and then plunged for the next 2+ years. The Nasdaq Composite lost over 70% of its value between March 2000 and Feb 2003.

Business Week Covers - The End of the Stock Run

December 1997: "Now that you know there's limited upside potential for stocks, what to do?"

From December 1997 through the beginning of 2000 stocks went up in almost a straight line. The return on the S&P 500 from Dec 97 to Dec 99 was over 50%.

Business Week Covers - The New Economics of Oil

November 1997: "THE NEW ECONOMICS OF OIL: With technology dragging down the cost of finding and producing the precious stuff, prices won't rise--even as demand soars."

Here is a chart of oil prices showing how it has fared since 1997.

Business Week Covers - Netscape

October 1997: "NETSPEED AT NETSCAPE How the hottest software startup in history plans to outrun Microsoft and remain master of the Web."

[By the end of 2006, the usage share of Netscape browsers had fallen, from over 90% in the mid 1990s, to less than 1%.]

Business

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C', the idea must be feasible." -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)