By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 commentator.
Dallas, TX – Much has come to pass since that shocking day six months ago. Though our hearts still hurt, our economy has proven once again that the sun does come tomorrow. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Middays.
Never before had it happened. The stock market closed for an unprecedented four days, as it should have. And ten days after the attack, the Dow Jones Average hit a low - a low that has not been seen since.
What was so interesting about the weeks and months after - we knew that our spirit would return, but would the economy and the market? Some people even got confused. They were using the economy as a gauge for our spirit, when in retrospect our spirit rallied long before the economy. Our initial immobility was followed by a surge of determination. Nothing would get us down. But I'm almost embarrassed by the pessimism and impatience with which many approached the market.
In this fast-food age of quick fixes, some analysts could not understand the concept that the fall is a necessary part of the climb. After an unprecedented 20-year growth, there were many in the market that had never experienced a down cycle. There were many in the press that had never seen one. And so the debate began. How could we get out of this and how long would it take? One was hard pressed to find an economist showing us any sort of light at the end of the tunnel - including the Federal Reserve board.
But to the credit of the average investor, there was no significant dumping of portfolios. In all the confusion and rhetoric, the typical investor stood on the sidelines - a little vocal maybe, but definitely not taking any regretful action.
And as if on a dime the new debate began - the one on hindsight. Were we ever really in a recession? Of course we were. Just ask anyone who was or still is unemployed. Was it the shortest one ever? You bet. Economists are still looking to the old formulas to explain today's market. They can't. September 11th created a universal shift that needs to be dealt with on all levels. For KERA Marketplace Middays, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 P.M.