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Events in Time Anniversaries: February 2020

25 years ago: February 1995

50 years ago: February 1970

100 years ago: February 1920

200 years ago: February 1820

Dr. Brian Taylor, Chief Economist
Global Financial Data, February 20 2020

25 years ago: February 1995

S&P 500: 487.39 (vs. 3380.16 in 02/2020)

10-year U.S. Government Bond Yield: 7.22% (vs. 1.59% in 02/2020)

Gold: $376.40 (vs. $1581.40 in 02/2020)

Oil: $18.515 (vs. $52.03 in 02/2020)

GBP/USD: 1.5825 (vs. 1.3046 in 02/2020)

US GDP: $7,455 billion (vs. $21,734 billion in 12/2019)

US Population: 266 million (vs. 329 million in 2019)

02/02/1995: Intel cuts prices on its Pentium microprocessors up to 39%.

02/03/1995: Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

02/07/1995: Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the1993 World Trade Center bombing, is arrested inIslamabad, Pakistan.

02/23/1995: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 4000 for the first time, on growing optimism the Federal Reserve can engineer a soft landing.

02/26/1995: The United Kingdom’s oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after securities broker Nick Leeson, loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.

02/28/1995: The Pentagon announces that it monitored Iranian installation of surface-to-air Hawk missiles in the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranians also have taken possession of and fortified the nearby Abu Musa and the Tunb Islands, which are claimed by both Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

 

50 years ago: February 1970 

S&P 500: 89.50 (vs. 3380.16 in 02/2020)

10-year U.S. Government Bond Yield: 6.90% (vs. 1.59% in 02/2020)

Gold: $35.02 (vs. $1581.40 in 02/2020)

Oil: $3.21 (vs. $52.03 in 02/2020)

GBP/USD: 2.4067 (vs. 1.3046 in 02/2020)

US GDP: $1,036 billion (vs. $21,734 billion in 12/2019)

US Population: 209 million (vs. 329 million in 2019)

02/03/1970: Market climbed on 16-million-share volume after Treasury Secretary Kennedy suggested that easier interest rates may be nearer than expected.

02/06/1970: The Bermuda Dollar replaced the Bermuda Pound at the rate of 2.4 Bermuda Dollars equal to 1 Bermuda Pound. On February 17, The Rhodesian Dollar replaced the Rhodesian Pound with 2 Dollars equal to 1 Pound.

02/18/1970: The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the1968 Democratic National Convention.

02/20/1970: Street consensus believed that market had reached or was near bottom, that money/credit would soon be eased.

 

100 years ago: February 1920 

S&P 500: 8.117 (vs. 3380.16 in 02/2020)

10-year U.S. Government Bond Yield: 5.05% (vs. 1.59% in 02/2020)

Gold: $20.67 (vs. $1581.40 in 02/2020)

Oil: $5.51 (vs. $52.03 in 02/2020)

GBP/USD: 3.385 (vs. 1.3046 in 02/2020)

US GDP: $84 billion (vs. $21,734 billion in 12/2019)

US Population: 106.46 million (vs. 329 million in 2019)

02/02/1920: Estonian War of Independence: Soviet Russia signed the Treaty of Tartu, renouncing all claims on Estonian territory.

02/04/1920: Allies demand 900 Germans be handed over for war crimes.

02/09/1920: Under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty, international diplomacy recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over Arctic archipelago Svalbard, and designates it as demilitarized.

02/14/1920: The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago.

02/18/1920: Paul Deschanel began his term as president of France.

02/24/1920: The Nazi Party is founded.

02/26/1920: The first German Expressionist film and early horror movie, Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, receives its premier in Berlin.

02/29/1920: American Crystal Sugar (Formerly American Beet Sugar Co.) is replaced by Corn Products Refining (later BestFoods Inc.)  in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

 

200 years ago: February 1820

S&P 500/GFD US-100: 1.565 (vs. 3380.16 in 02/2020)

10-year U.S. Government Bond Yield: 4.478% (vs. 1.85% in 02/2020)

Gold: $19.39 (vs. $1461.70 in 02/2020)

GBP/USD: 4.44 (vs. 1.3115 in 02/2020)

US GDP: $727 million (vs. $21,734 billion in 12/2019)

US Population: 9.6 million (vs. 329 million in 2019)

02/04/1820: The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Cochrane completes the 2-day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and 2 ships.

02/06/1820: The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society depart New York to start a settlement in present-day Liberia.

02/13/1820: Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, younger son of the future King Charles X of France was assassinated.

02/20/1820: Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis (Constitutionalist) became Prime Minister of France

02/21/1820: N. Y. Stock Exchange definitely formed with a Constitution and By-Laws. (Formed by written agreement between twenty members, May 17, 1792).

02/23/1820: Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.