President Barack Obama turned 50 years old Thursday and celebrated with
multiple birthday parties (and a little campaign fundraising) on his big day.
Since I am a big fan of stock market trivia, I thought it would be fun to throw
together some fun facts about where the market and the nation's economy was 50
years ago when Obama was born. Some facts about the market are just interesting.
Others about the nation's debts or unemployment rate might make you long for
better times. But, at any rate, here's my fun list of 50 economic facts after
Obama's 50 th birthday: 1. In May of 1961, the Dow closed above 700 for the
first time ever. 2. The adjusted close for the Dow on Aug. 4, 1961, was 720.69.
3. That marked a 1,660% gain since the index debuted 65 years earlier at at
40.94 on May 26, 1896. 4. That's almost 25% per year annually. 5. The stock
market was in raging bull mode in 1961. The Dow was up for a roughly 400% gain
in just 12 years, from a level around 150 in 1949. 6. That's over 33% annually
from 1949 to 1961. 7. Currently, the index is up 1,270% since that close of
720.69 in 1961. 8. Annualized, that's about 25% a year. 9 to 29. Dow
components in 1961 were: Allied Chemical Aluminum Company of America American
Can American Telephone & Telegraph American Tobacco B Anaconda Copper Bethlehem
Steel Chrysler Du Pont Eastman Kodak Company General Electric Company General
Foods General Motors Corporation Goodyear International Harvester International
Nickel International Paper Company Johns-Manville Owens-Illinois Glass Procter &
Gamble Company Sears Roebuck & Company Standard Oil of California Standard Oil
(NJ) Swift & Company Texaco Incorporated (formerly Texas Company) Union Carbide
United Aircraft U.S. Steel Westinghouse Electric Woolworth 30. The only current
components that were truly part of the 1961 Dow are General Electric (NYSE: GE
), Alcoa (NYSE: AA ), which was formerly known as the Aluminum Company of
America , Dupont (NYSE: DD ) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG ). (You can make a
complicated case for many others like American Telephone & Telegraph, for
instance, which is just one thread of the tangled fabric of AT&T (NYSE: T )
history but let's keep moving.) 31. Believe it or not, GE stock actually has
outperformed the Dow since even after its meltdown during the financial crisis,
up about 1,580 since August 1961 vs. 1,270% for the DJIA. 32. And Dupont has
underperformed in an ugly way. The stock is up only about 680% since 1961, half
the gains of the broader market. And it didn't pay its first dividend until
1987. 33. Six Flags (NYSE: SIX ) turns 50 this year too, born in 1961 as "Six
Flags Over Texas" opened. 34. Imation (NYSE: IMN ) brand Memorex got its start
in 1961, too, focusing on computer tapes. 35. Publicly traded trucker J.B. Hunt
(NASDAQ: JBHT ) also is 50 in a few days, incorporated in Arkansas on Aug. 10,
1961. 36. Eyewear stock Luxotica (NYSE: LUX ) also got its start in 1961, 50
years ago. Now on to the bigger economic issues of 1961, some hard numbers with
real impact and some fun marketing facts: 37. Unemployment was almost half what
it is today, at just 5.5% 38. Minimum wage in 1961: $1.15 an hour. 39. Median
family income 50 years ago was about $5,700 per year. 40. U.S. debt as a
percentage of GDP was about 55% when Eisenhower left office. That was down from
about 70% when he entered the White House in 1953, and about half the levels
under Truman at the end of World War II about 16 years earlier. 41. The largest
recorded strike in history ended a 33 year spat by Danish barbers assistants.
Strange barbers fixed a labor dispute right before the era of long hair but
true. 42. OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) is formally
constituted. 43. In early 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower announced the U.S.
would sever diplomatic relations with Cuba and soon would employ economic and
trade sanctions. 44. Before leaving office, President Eisenhower also issued a
warning with a now infamous phrase about the military industrial complex
developing in America. 45. The first American astronaut, Navy Commander Alan B.
Shepard, rockets 116.5 miles up, kicking off the history of manned space flight.
46. Frito corn chips appear on the snack food scene, marketed by the Frito Kid
predecessor to the Frito Bandito. 47. Barbie gets a boyfriend when the Ken doll
is introduced. The move helps the Barbie line cement its status a toy store
staple for decades to come. 48. Black & Decker introduced the first cordless
power drill, powered by nickle-cadmium. Wives everywhere have less sympathy for
husbands who claim they don't have time to fix things around the house. 49.
Ibuprofen was introduced to the public. It wouldn't become available as an
over-the-counter drug in 1984. 50. The Yankees would go on to win the World
Series. Hey, it's not strictly economic but there's too much money in those
pinstripes these days to ignore a shoutout to the Mantle and Maris home run
chase that year. Jeff Reeves is the editor of InvestorPlace.com. As of this
writing, he did not own a position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him
on Twitter via @JeffReevesIP and become a fan of InvestorPlace on Facebook .
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