It would be too perfect had the stock market crashed that very day – as it certainly ought to have – but such is the momentum of mania that, like a runner shot dead in midstride, it staggered on for about six more weeks. Whereupon the S&P 500 went down by nearly half. NASDAQ, the true mother church of the mania, declined about 80%, and would not make a new high for fifteen years.
One is delighted to report that there is a spectacularly good book about this watershed event (after which some $200 billion of combined market cap went up the flue) by a reporter who was very much right on the story before, during and after. It is Alec Klein’s Stealing Time: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Collapse of AOL Time Warner. It’s instructive, cautionary – and a great read.
Do so, and you’ll begin to learn – or just to remember – what a full-on mania looks and feels like, and how great market tops are really made: not with a whimper, but a bang.
© 2016 Nick Murray. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission. Nick reviews current books, articles and research findings in the “Resources” feature of his monthly newsletter, Nick Murray Interactive. To download the 2016 sample issue, visit www.nickmurray.com and click on “Newsletter.”