Stocks Plunge Amid Brewing Conflict on the Brink
On January 23, 1939, the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered a sharp break, dropping 5.2%. This significant decline was a warning for eagle-eyed investors, as it signaled the beginning of several Depression-era bear markets.
Steel and automotive stocks fared the worst in the Dow's drop, with U.S. Steel falling 7%. Caterpillar also reported a major decline for the 1938 year on that day.
In stark contrast, the German Boerse stock market was a rare standout in the global slide on the same day.
Fast forward to 1991, and another event of historical significance took place. On January 23, Kuwaiti oil installations were set aflame by the Iraqi army during their retreat from Operation Desert Storm. The fires from the burning oil fields billowed thick, noxious clouds of smoke and soot throughout the year. Early estimates predicted that 540,000 tons of soot would be released into the air in the first month alone.
The international team led by privately held Bechtel extinguished the last of the fires by November of 1991. However, the direct economic loss of the disaster was nearly $18 billion at the prevailing price of oil in 1991. Secondary effects, including environmental and health damages, are likely to have raised the total cost of the disaster by an order of magnitude or more.
In the Persian Gulf, a slick of crude that spread from a damaged Kuwaiti loading terminal surpassed the size of the Exxon Valdez spill of 1989 within hours. The Iraqis had set mines around active Kuwaiti oil wells, making it difficult to bring the fires under control.
The Kuwaiti sabotage remains the worst oil-related ecological disaster in history, with over 650 oil wells set ablaze and between 1 billion and 1.5 billion barrels of oil fouling the environment.
In a completely different realm, the first stable version of the Java programming language was released on January 23, 1996. Java was designed for the eventual union of digital consumer devices and home computers. Today, more than 9 million programmers are part of the Java development community, according to Oracle.
On a lighter note, January 23, 1983, marked a memorable day in the world of professional wrestling. Hulk Hogan defeated the Iron Shiek for his first World Wrestling Entertainment title.
This article originally appeared on Fool.com.
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