Riding the Bull.

It is an understatement to say that during the 1990s the stock market was volatile. On 17 April 1991 the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above three thousand points for the first time in history. By 1995 the Dow had gained 33.5 percent in value and passed the four thousand mark. In 1997 it reached a high of eight thousand, but began to fluctuate wildly and unpredictably. In late October 1997, for instance, the stock market came as close to crashing as it billion shares were traded on the NYSE that day (AP/Wide World Photos). had in the decade when the Dow plummeted a record 554 points in a single day, equaling 7.2 percent of its total value, only to rebound with a record 337-point rise the following day. At the end of the week the market ebbed and flowed its way to a mark of 7,442.08, a loss...