Some anniversaries make you feel happy. Some make you feel sad. And some make you feel plain stupid. The one we are celebrating (if that’s the word) this week occurred on March 7, 2000. This was the first time that Nasdaq reached 5,000. And if the Japanese Nikkei Index is a guide (God forbid!), maybe the last time we’ll see that inflated close again for a very, very long time. Nasdaq closed this past week a tad above 2,000.
The wallstreetpoet.com way of remembering this event is a sonnet modeled on William Wordsworth’s great poem, "Composed upon Westminster Bridge (September 3, 1802)." Wordsworth here was expressing awe at the wonderous City of London spread beneath his feet in the first light of morning. When I wrote this poem shortly after its title date, I was expressing awe at the ability of the market’s best and brightest not to recognize the vast and unsustainable bubble their own credulity and cupidity had created.
Composed When the
Nasdaq First Hit 5,000
(March 7, 2000)
No market has ever risen so fast:
Only the cautious did miss their big chance
To hop a ride on this bubble flyer:
Nasdaq triumphs, all its critics, aghast
Fell silent this morning, devoid of rant,
Dot.coms and bio-techs, all found buyers
And what once sold high, now sells much higher;
All now agree, all worries here are past.
And no analyst dares raise a peep
As this splendid ascent reaches its peak;
For from price jumps here they income reap!
So it pays no nasty comment to speak:
Surely! We’ll all never rise from our sleep;
And find this great ark has done sprung a leak!
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