So it’s Friday morning and I have been watching local news stations inform me about “Black Friday” over and over. At first I thought, “Oh no, another catastrophic stock market crash?” Then I realized that this phrase refers to retailers who can move out of the red and into the black with strong sales leading into Christmas. There has to be a better phrase, right?
Historically, the term “black” has been used to describe other disastrous days in financial markets. For example, Tuesday, October 29th, 1929, a day the market fell precipitously, has been coined Black Tuesday, signaling the start of the Great Depression. Additionally, the largest one-day drop in stock market history occurred on Black Monday, October 19th, 1987, when the DJIA plummeted more than 22%.
As chronicled here recently, local folks were willing yet again to wait in a line as early as 4 p.m. yesterday to grab a laptop computer for $400 or a flat panel television for $250. Check that, for a chance to grab a laptop or flat panel TV. I know, I know, as SinghCity pointed out recently, this stuff isn’t really news so I won’t waste your time piling on. That is, until “Cyber Monday” strikes…