Market History Since 1896
Daily closing prices for the Dow Jones since 1896, gold and silver since 1968 (gold's official price before that), the S&P 500 since 1950 (monthly since 1871), the Nasdaq, Russell 2000, Nikkei 225, oil and the 10-year Treasury yield. Today the Dow buys 13.4 ounces of gold; in January 1980 it bought about one. Chart any of them over any period, in today's dollars or as a ratio, and look up the price on any date.
Daily data to October 30, 2026 · Dow Jones, gold, silver, S&P 500, Nasdaq, Russell 2000, Nikkei 225, oil, 10-year yield
Long-term chart builder
Price on a date
Any date since 26 May 1896 (Dow Jones). Weekends and holidays show the previous close.
Ratios worth knowing
Dow/gold ratio since 1896 — how many ounces of gold the Dow buys; famous for its swings between about 1 and 40.
S&P 500 ÷ gold · Gold ÷ silver since 1968 · Gold ÷ oil (barrels per ounce) · Nasdaq ÷ Dow
Famous periods
1929 crash & Great DepressionWorld War II1970s: end of Bretton Woods, inflation1982–2000 bull marketBlack Monday 1987Dot-com bubble & bust2008 financial crisis2020 pandemic crash
Markets Year by Year
Every year since 1896 with its key events: what happened, and how the Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq, gold, silver, oil and bond yields reacted.
Famous years
Dow 1914: the NYSE closes for four monthsDow 1929: the crashDow 1987: Black MondayGold 1980: the $850 peak10-year yield 1981: the 15.8% peakNasdaq 2000: the dot-com bustS&P 500 2008: the financial crisisOil 2008: $145, then $34S&P 500 2020: the COVID crash
By decade
2020s2010s2000s1990s1980s1970s1960s1950s1940s1930s1920s1910s1900s1890s
All Series
Each has its own page with records, bear markets, best and worst years and a year-by-year table.
Market History FAQ
How far back does the data go?
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 26 May 1896. S&P 500: daily since 1950, and Robert Shiller's monthly S&P Composite since 1871. Gold and silver market prices: 1968 (before that gold had an official fixed price). Nasdaq Composite: 1971. Russell 2000: 1987. Nikkei 225: 1984. Oil: 1986–87. 10-year Treasury yield: 1962.
What is the Dow/gold ratio?
The Dow Jones index divided by the gold price — how many ounces of gold one "unit" of the Dow buys. It peaked around 1929, 1966 and 1999 and bottomed in 1932 and 1980. See the Dow/gold ratio page for its full history.
Are the returns adjusted for dividends?
No. Index figures are price indices only. Dividends have added several percentage points a year to stock returns over the long run, which these charts do not include.
How are prices adjusted for inflation?
With the US consumer price index (CPI-U from 1913, Robert Shiller's CPI series before that): each price × latest CPI ÷ CPI of that month.
Historical prices are provided for information and may contain errors. Index values are the property of their publishers and are shown for reference only. Past performance does not predict future results; nothing here is investment advice.
Cite this page
For essays, articles and research. Prices on this page update daily, so the citations include today's date as the date you accessed it.
@misc{corgano2026markethistorysince1896, author = {{Corgano}}, title = {Market History Since 1896}, howpublished = {\url{https://goldprice.corgano.com/market-history}}, year = {2026}, note = {Corgano Gold Price, accessed 2026-10-31}}