Markets
A Hundred Dollars, Again
Brent crude went back above $100 a barrel. The war that started on February 28 had never really left the price.
Markets
Stocks, bonds, oil, gold and the price of money.
Markets
The Gallon
A war that began on February 28 reached the oil market on a Monday. Brent crude, about $72 before the war, traded near $120.
From America 250
The full series
America 250, 2023
A Bank Run
In March 2023, Silicon Valley Bank lost $42 billion in deposits in a single day and failed. It was the fastest bank run in American history, and it was carried out on phones.
America 250, 2008
Lehman Monday
On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed the largest bankruptcy in American history. Within days, money market funds were breaking, AIG needed a rescue, and the global financial system nearly stopped.
America 250, 2000
Story Stocks
In the late 1990s, investors paid enormous prices for internet companies with little revenue and no profit. The Nasdaq peaked in March 2000 and then lost almost four-fifths of its value.
America 250, 1987
Black Monday
On October 19, 1987, the Dow fell 22.6 percent, still its worst day. The economy barely noticed. The difference between 1987 and 1929 was what happened the next morning.
America 250, 1931
The Line at the Teller
Between 1930 and 1933, about 9,000 American banks failed. With no deposit insurance, the safest thing a family could do was to get its money out first, which is how the banks fell.
America 250, 1808
The Market That the Ban Created
On January 1, 1808, the United States banned the import of enslaved people. The internal market in human beings expanded to fill the gap.
America 250, 1672
The First Slave Trade IPO
The Royal African Company was a chartered monopoly, with shareholders, a governor, and a license to buy and sell people. When the monopoly cracked, the trade got bigger.
America 250, 1650
The Triangle That Built Everything
The textbook draws three arrows. The ships were messier than that. The commodities were not. England, Africa, and the American colonies locked into one trade.
- 017Labor Bought at Point Comfort1619
- 019The King Takes the Company1624
- 023Sugar Replaces the Small Farm1640s
- 032Rice Builds the Lowcountry1700
- 038A Bounty for Indigo1748
- 046Merchants Stop Ordering British Goods1768
- 048Cheaper Tea With the Duty Left On1773
- 058Brokers Write a Trading Rule1792
- 062The National Bank Is Allowed to Die1811
- 083The Gravel Paid in Gold1849
- 085Land Laid Out Like a Checkerboard1850
- 091The Well That Replaced the Whale1859
- 092They Bet the World Could Not Spare Their Cotton1860
- 101The Crop Replaced the Chain1865
- 114The Strike That Stopped the Trains1877
- 117The Law Closed the Gate on Chinese Workers1882
- 123The Lockout on the Monongahela1892
- 125The Company Town and the Boycott1894
- 136The Exchange Goes Dark1914
- 137Orders from a War Not Ours Yet1915
- 144The Sharp Drop1921
- 147Lots Nobody Had Seen1926
- 148Bought on Margin1928
- 159Turning In the Gold1933
- 172The Defense Paycheck1940
- 183Customers Who Could Buy Again1948
- 189Paying Acres to Rest1956
- 197Two Prices for One Ounce1968
- 205When New York Could Not Pay1975
- 211Mexico Cannot Pay1982
- 215The Cleanup1989
- 220The Peso1995
- 222The Boom1996
- 223Asia Sells Its Currencies1997
- 232When Lending Hesitated2007
- 238Cheap Money2015
- 249Twenty-Nine Thousand Jobs2026