Technical Summary: September 11, 2001 is an example of what can happen at the extremes of the markets. On the 16th Anniversary of the terrible event we are profiling the day to remind investors that the longer you are in the markets the more likely you are to encounter extreme events. The above chart is of the S&P 500 from July 2001 through to the end of 2001. The first thing to point out is that the market was already in a downtrend leading up to September 2011. This is within the wider context of the bursting of the internet bubble. The stock market did not open for trading after the attacks and it stayed closed through to September 17, 2001. After opening the market fell 7.1% before closing the week down 11.6%. An estimated $1.4 trillion was lost in 5 days of trading. The 9/11 bottom occured on the 20th of Semptember. By the end of the year the market had recovered to pre 9/11 levels. In the wider context this was not the long term bottom after the internet bubble which eventually bottomed out in late 2002.