A Look At The Stock Market 50 Years Ago Today

Published November 22, 2013 at 12:40 PM CST

Wire copy from the New York General Desk of The Associated Press on the day of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. (AP)

Early trading was mixed today on Wall Street, after the the Dow Jones industrial average closed at an all time high yesterday.

The Dow closed above 16,000 after the government reported encouraging news about the job market.

Marty Schenker joins Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson to discuss what happened to the stock market 50 years ago today, when news broke of President Kennedy’s death.

“All the trading was done by pencil and paper, so all the traders were scurrying around trying to sell,” says Schenker. “They fell about 2.9 percent that day. That would be the equivalent today of about a 450-point drop in the Dow. There have been worse days since then, but it was a pretty dramatic move at the time.”

Bloomberg: Day JFK Died We Traded Through Tears as NYSE Shut

Guest

Marty Schenker, executive editor of Top News for Bloomberg. He tweets @mschenker.