Year-End Review of Markets and Finance: What Was News
Down was the predominant direction in 1989's big news stories. The Berlin Wall and many other sections of the Iron Curtain tumbled. Down went the stock market on Friday, Oct. 13, even though stocks overall performed well for the year. And, tragically, homes, businesses and expressways collapsed as more than a hundred died in Hurricane Hugo and the Bay Area earthquake. The dates indicate when the articles appeared in The Wall Street Journal.</br></br>JANUARY</br></br>U.S. Navy fighters shoot down two Libyan MiG-23s over the Mediterranean. The incident comes as the U.S. is waging a public relations campaign against a Libyan plant that the U.S. said is about to mass produce poison gas. (1/5)</br></br>Chicago's futures pits are the target of a major federal investigation that has accumulated evidence of widespread shady dealings that cheated the public. Some Federal Bureau of Investigation agents posed as traders. (1/20)</br></br>George Bush is to be sworn in as the 41st U.S. president. Americans, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, greatly respect Mr. Bush's abilities but doubt he can deliver on many goals, such as controlling the deficit or keeping his pledge of no new taxes. (1/20)