"We who are about to die salute you."
A wary Art Cashin heard this phrase in its original Latin -- morituri te salutamus -- from a fellow trader and student of the classics early on a day 20 years ago that would earn the ignoble title Black Monday and serve as a lesson about the fragility of rising stock markets.
Cashin and his colleagues recall Wall Street's plunge of October 19, 1987, when the Dow Jones industrial average fell 508 points, or nearly 23 percent, as one of the most frightening days ever in the stock market. There was a sense of foreboding on the trading floor, and that moved Cashin's colleague to utter the salute once used by Roman gladiators.
Read full article »
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.