Nasdaq · July 29, 2002
As the accounting law passed
+5.79%
single-day change vs previous close
Part of a longer stretch
Nine months when the books could not be trusted
near the end of it · 2002-01-04 → 2002-10-09, -45.90% over the whole period
What happened that day?
- On 29 July 2002 the Nasdaq rose 5.79% in a single day
- Accounting fraud had crushed the market that summer — after Enron, a huge misstatement at a large telecom emerged
- When reported earnings cannot be trusted, there is no way to value a share
- Congress passed a law sharply tightening corporate accounting responsibility, the starting point for rebuilding trust
- The core provision made executives personally sign off on the financial statements
- The final low, though, came two months later on 9 October
Sources
Every figure on this page is recomputed from the original daily closing prices and checked against them at build time. The account of what happened is written from the sources listed above.