Anyone contemplating investing in the stock market is likely to shudder at least a little bit at the market’s ups and downs.

Your task:

Write a brief informational report for your class blog that contains a chart of one of the major stock market indexes (such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the S&P 500) over the past 20 years. Pick out four significant drops in the index during this time period and investigate economic or political events that occurred immediately before or during these declines. Briefly describe the events and their likely effect on the stock market.