Greg Tucker
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Sure, Presidents' Day is supposed to celebrate two of the United States' greatest leaders, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, but that's not what usually happens on the holiday.

What comes to mind when you think of Presidents Day?

Sadly, after Washington and Lincoln, it's mattress sales or furniture bargains. (Car sales are off the radar this year, for obvious reasons.) Not very dignified, but that's just the way it goes.

Oct. 10: Dow 8,451 (down 128 points); trading range, 1,215 points

By comparison to many of the days we've mentioned here, the closing numbers for the Dow and other major indexes seem pedestrian. But they don't tell the entire story of the trading session on Friday, Oct. 10.

Overnight, the overseas markets saw some of the worst results in decades with Japan's Nikkei falling 9.6%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropping 7.2, London's FTSE losing 8.9%, Germany's DAX off 7% and France's CAC declining 7.7% -- foretelling an ugly day for U.S. traders.

In the most-volatile and most-active session of the year, the major indices plunged sharply at the open, as global economic fears rocked the U.S. markets. The markets rebounded back into positive territory in short order, only to retreat again in afternoon trading. One more rally into positive territory came in the final hour before the markets finally ended the day lower.

Needless to say, volatility set another record, fueled by tightness in the credit markets and continued uncertainty about the economic outlook. The day ended an ugly week where the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 declined 18.2%, 15.3% and 18.2%, respectively.

Greg Tucker is the executive editor of OptionsZone.com.

Sept. 29: Dow 10,365 (down 777 points); trading range, 872 points

The markets collapsed after the U.S. House of Representatives failed to pass the $700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.

Considering the tight credit markets, most were expecting the measure to sail through Capitol Hill, but the bill's failure exacerbated fears that the economy would continue to suffer while the politicians tried to reach a solution.

Naturally, both political parties pointed the finger at the other to place blame for the measure's failure.

Continued tightness in the credit markets were reflected in the TED spread, the difference between what the banks charge each other for three-month loans (three-month LIBOR) and what the U.S. government pays for them (three-month T-bills). The spread was at its highest level since 1984, and indicated that banks were unwilling to lend to each other.

The selling on the Street was broad based, as the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 fell 7%, 9.1% and 8.8%, respectively, settling at the session's lows.

The Nasdaq and S&P 500's declines were the largest since Black Monday in 1987, while the Dow posted its worst day since the 9/11 attacks.

Greg Tucker is the executive editor of OptionsZone.com.

Oct. 13: Dow 9,387 (up 936 points); trading range, 1,039 points

The Dow notched its single-largest point gain ever (936 points), and largest percent gain since 1933, on the heels of a global effort to shore up the financial markets.

The Fed and other central banks announced plans to provide as much dollar liquidity as possible to the short-term funding markets.

The Fed was expected to reveal its comprehensive plan later, which would inject $250 billion to spur interbank lending, and include bank debt guarantees. (The results of the Fed's action can be seen here.)

In other news, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) completed its own global initiative to shore up its balance sheet by accepting a $9 billion capital infusion from Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, giving the company a 21% stake in the venerable Wall Street firm.

Greg Tucker is the executive editor of OptionsZone.com.

Sept. 15: Dow 10,917 (down 504 points); trading range, 566 points

Wall Street greeted a new week with more turmoil in the financial sector leading the S&P 500 to its largest one-day percentage drop since 9/11.

During the weekend before the session, Lehman Brothers (OTC: LEHMQ) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch sold itself to Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) for $50 billion and AIG (NYSE: AIG) began looking for massive amounts of cash to save itself from failure.

Lehman gave up the ghost after no buyers were willing to step up to save the 158-year-old firm, and the company listed $613 billion in debt.

Meanwhile, the feds told AIG to look elsewhere for $40 billion to shore up its balance sheet, leading many to suspect it would take much more cash to set things straight.

They were right -- we're currently at $150 billion and counting.

Greg Tucker is the executive editor of OptionsZone.com.

Dec. 1: Dow 8,149 (down 679 points); trading range, 703 points

Start spreadin' the news -- the U.S. economy entered a recession 12 months ago.

But this headline from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) combined with other weak economic data and more troubles in financials to drag down the Dow by nearly 700 points.

In fact, 498 of the S&P 500 stocks posted a decline during the session.

Every sector showed weakness, as a disappointing manufacturing survey sank to the worst level since 1982, and weighed on trading.

Financials took another severe beating as Oppenheimer uber-analyst Meredith Whitney opined that the credit card industry may cut credit lines by more than $2 trillion during the next 18 months.

Meanwhile, Fed Chief Ben Bernanke laid out additional policy actions that may be taken to boost the economy.

Greg Tucker is the executive editor of OptionsZone.com.

Oct. 28: Dow 9,065 (up 889 points); trading range, 958 points

Try to figure this one out:

Consumer confidence reaches the lowest levels on record since the survey began 41 years ago ...

Home prices in 20 major metro areas fall 16% year-over-year and have been falling for 20 consecutive months ...

And the market rallies to post its second-largest gain of the year.

Huh?!?

The volatile session ended with the benchmark index almost 900 points higher as bargain hunting and short-covering ruled the day, with some help from strength in the overseas markets.

A labor agreement at Boeing (NYSE: BA), and better-than-expected earnings at U.S. Steel (NYSE: X) and energy sector names Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY), Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) and BP (NYSE: BP) also added fuel to the market's fire (pun intended).

Greg Tucker is the executive editor of OptionsZone.com.

Oct. 14: Dow 9,310 (down 76 points); trading range, 874 points

The markets finished the day marginally lower, but the volatility that had plagued the markets for the past few weeks continued to reign. (Two days later the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) would set an all-time record of 81.)

However, the big headline of the day came from an announcement that the federal government would take preferred equity stakes worth up to $250 billion in several U.S. banks to keep money flowing through the financial system.

The move linked the banking sector and the government, and made taxpayers de facto shareholders in the American finance system.

Congratulations, you now own several banks.

To participate in the program, financial institutions like Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) had to agree to executive compensation limits, including the elimination of golden parachutes.

The program was "voluntary," but when Treasury and the Fed came knocking, it was making an offer the banks couldn't refuse.

Greg Tucker is the executive editor of OptionsZone.com.

Jan. 22: Dow 11,971 (down 128 points); trading range, 658 points

The specter of continuing the ugliness seen overnight in the global equity markets and a 95% decline in fourth-quarter (2007) net income at Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) combined to shake up those in charge of U.S. monetary policy.

So, facing the possibility of a 500-point drop in the Dow following the long holiday weekend, the Fed sprang into action early to shore up the markets.

The move was a 75-basis-point pre-market intermeeting cut just eight days before the Fed's regularly scheduled meeting to drop the fed funds rate to 3.5% and the discount rate to 4%. The Fed made this move "in view of a weakening of the economic outlook and increasing downside risks to growth," adding, "appreciable downside risks to growth remain."

The Dow battled all day to recover from an early session drop of 459 points to close down only 128 by the closing bell.

Greg Tucker is the executive editor of OptionsZone.com.

March 18: Dow 12,392 (up 420 points); trading range, 435 points

Just one day after the collapse of Bear Stearns, the market rallied on a 75-basis-point Fed rate cut and better-than-expected earnings reports from Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and Lehman Brothers (OTC: LEHMQ).

Looks like someone wasn't paying attention.

The clear focus was on the much-anticipated Fed cut that dropped the fed funds and discount rate to 2.25% and 2.5%, respectively.

There was a slight pause during the session, as some hoped for a 100-basis-point cut, but traders pushed onward to finish strong and add another 100 points to the Dow before the close.

All sectors rallied into positive territory for the session and the S&P 500 posted its biggest one-day percentage move since October 2002.

Greg Tucker is the executive editor of OptionsZone.com.

July 14 -- Dow 11,055 (down 45 points); trading range, 327 points

The third-largest bank failure in U.S. history made headlines after IndyMac Bancorp collapsed following a run on the bank.

An FDIC takeover of IndyMac attempted to keep operations as normal as possible, but doubts began to arise about other troubled regionals like Washington Mutual (later sold to JPMorgan Chase) and National City (now a part of PNC Financial after an October "take-under," where the company was purchased at a discount to its stock value).

But wait, there's more. After years of financial shenanigans and controversy, Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) and Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) were placed into conservatorship in a federal takeover of the government sponsored enterprises. This contributed to another slaughter in the financials, with 96% of the sector posting a loss for the session.

Oh, and if you wanted to drown your sorrows over an American-owned brew, scratch Budweiser off your list. Anheuser-Busch agreed to merge with Belgium's InBev for $70 a share, or $52 billion.

Greg Tucker is the executive editor of OptionsZone.com.

As we ring in the new year, it feels nice to put 2008 behind us.

In what all traders would agree was the craziest market they'd ever seen, we were taken on a roller-coaster ride fueled by the subprime mortgage fiasco, a recession, bailouts, a credit crisis, scandal and a historic election.

Here are 10 of the wildest days and biggest point moves on the Dow during the last 12 months:

#10 Saving our Fannie (and Freddie): After years of financial shenanigans and controversy, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were placed into conservatorship in a federal takeover of the government sponsored enterprises. (July 14)

# 9 The day after (Bear Stearns): Just one day after the collapse of Bear Stearns, the market rallied on a 75-basis-point Fed rate cut and better-than-expected earnings reports from Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers. (March 18)

#8 We've got a bad feeling about this: Facing the possibility of a 500-point drop in the Dow, the Fed sprang into action early to shore up the markets. (Jan. 22)

#7 I've always wanted to be loved ... and be a banker: The federal government announced it would take preferred equity stakes worth up to $250 billion in several U.S. banks to keep money flowing through the financial system. (Oct. 14)

#6 Consumer confidence hits all-time low ... let's buy stocks!: Consumer confidence reaches the lowest levels on record since the survey began 41 years ago and the market rallies to post its second-largest gain of the year. Huh?!? (Oct. 28)

#5 It's official: U.S. economy enters recession ... in 2007: This headline from the NBER combined with other weak economic data and more troubles in financials to drag down the Dow by nearly 700 points. (Dec. 1)