Chart of the day: Dow 1928-1932

By Edward Harrison On Jun 30, 2008

As we prepare for another week in the markets, it bears remembering that Bear markets are not an orgy of pain with indices going straight down. Along the way, there are always brief rallies which bring optimism that the worst is over. But, the indices then resume their downtrend until we reach capitulation and almost everyone is bearish.

This certainly was the pattern in the Bear market from 1929-1932 during the Great Depression. There were six separate bear market rallies during that brief 3-year span. Below are the charts for the Dow Jones from 1928-1932.

The First 4 Rallies

The Last 3 Rallies

The Market Crash: 1929-1932

Edward Harrison 7783 posts 575 comments

Edward Harrison is a senior Editor at Bloomberg. He is also the founder of Credit Writedowns newsletter, a former career diplomat, investment banker and technology executive with over twenty five years of business experience. He speaks six languages and reads another five, skills he uses to provide a more global perspective. Edward holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College.