1991: After almost two years of clumsy pursuit, AT&T Corp. finally gets NCR Corp. to let AT&T take it over for $7.4 billion, or a mere $110 a share. "We believe," says AT&T Chairman Robert E. Allen, "that AT&T will bring resources to your business that will build significantly on your history of success and assure a strong future, creating a powerful American company with the technological and marketing strengths to compete in world markets over the long term." AT&T's takeover of NCR turns out to be one of the most disastrous blunders ever, as NCR's computer lines fall in popularity and the two corporate cultures clash like Serbs and Bosnians. AT&T ends up spinning off NCR in 1996, after losing $3.8 billion.

The Wall Street Journal, December 30, 1996, p. B1

1986: Nearly six years after it closed above 200 for the first time, the NASDAQ Composite Index finally closes above 300, finishing the day at 301.64.

1929: Just in time to lure investors into the worst stock decline in modern history, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange opens for trading. As a special favor to his subjects, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg structures the stock exchange as a stock corporation owned 20% by members of the public.

Museum of American Financial History;The LGT Guide to World Equity Markets, 1997 (Euromoney Publications, London, 1997), p. 296.

1870: Amedeo Peter Giannini is born in San Jose, Calif. In San Francisco in 1904 he founds the Bank of Italy to serve the city's burgeoning working class. It later finances the Golden Gate Bridge in the depths of the Depression and lends David Selznick the money he needs to finish filming Gone With The Wind. Today, as Bank of America, it's one of the world's biggest financial-services firms.