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Tuesday December 26, 6:48 pm Eastern Time

Stock Market Was Biggest 2000 Story

By ADAM GELLER
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- It wasn't too long ago that ``irrational exuberance'' made for heady days on Wall Street.

In 2000, investors' flight from the market only made for daily headaches.

After a 1999 that was the economic equivalent of Mardi Gras, 2000 proved to be the achy morning after -- when the nation's investors and executives awoke to find their wallets half-empty, their dignity more than a little rumpled and their temples throbbing.

That collective swoon was a consistent theme in many of the top business stories of 2000, ranked by U.S. newspaper and broadcast editors in a survey by The Associated Press.

The biggest business story of the year was the downfall of the once mighty stock market, a plummet that claimed $3 trillion in investor wealth. But misery loves company, and there was plenty of other troublesome business news among the stories chosen by the editors.

This was the year, after all, when energy prices soared nearly as fast as dot-com ventures soured, and the year when crises involving tire failures on SUVs and airport delays bedeviled tire and car manufacturers and airlines.

Not that there wasn't good news, too, particularly record low unemployment, a sign of just how strong the economy remained. But after all that exuberance, this past year may well be remembered most for its disappointments.

Here, according to the AP survey of editors, are the top 10 business stories of 2000:

1. STOCKS DIVE: After several phenomenal years, a generation of new investors was introduced to the painful phenomenon of losses. The Dow Jones industrial average surged to nearly 12,000 and the Nasdaq motored past 5,000 in the early months of the year. But doubts about technology companies and the economy popped the bubble.

2. DOT-COM SHAKEOUT: For a while there, it seemed any company with a .com at the end of its name was charmed. The magic wore off as pressures to show profits exposed the weakness of many ventures, leading to layoffs and cutbacks and even the end of some dot-coms. The casualties included Furniture.com, Pets.com (NasdaqNM:IPET - news), and ValueAmerica.com.

3. TIRE RECALL: Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone began a massive recall after investigators blamed tire separations for accidents in the automaker's popular Explorer sport-utility vehicle. The accidents claimed at least 148 lives in the United States, according to federal investigators. Ford blames Firestone, but the tiremaker says the auto manufacturer also erred in setting faulty load limits for the Explorer.

4. OIL SOARS: The last time Americans were paying oil prices like these was during the 1991 Gulf War. This time, strong economic growth drove demand and prices soared as oil-producing nations kept a tight rein on supplies. The result was gasoline prices surpassing $2 a gallon in some parts of the country, and a winter that promises consumers record-high costs for heating oil and natural gas.

5. MICROSOFT SPLIT-UP ORDERED: Agreeing with the case made by federal regulators, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled in June that Microsoft (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) was an unfair monopoly that must be broken up. Legal experts said the battle could lead to the biggest government-ordered restructuring since the AT&T (NYSE:T - news) split-up in 1984, but it was not yet clear how vigorously the incoming Bush administration would pursue the case.

6. AOL-TIME WARNER MERGER: The largest deal in U.S. corporate history was still pending at year's end, but won the approval of regulators after exacting concessions to protect consumers.

7. INTEREST RATES: Stung by high interest rates, investors and businesses hung on Alan Greenspan's every word, listening for hints of a change in Federal Reserve policy. The year ended with the Fed declaring its fear of inflation eased, but with rates unchanged.

8. RECORD-LOW UNEMPLOYMENT: The ranks of the jobless fell to a minuscule 3.9 percent this fall and was at just 4 percent as the year ended, levels never seen before.

9. FLORIDA SMOKERS' VERDICT: A jury ordered tobacco companies to pay a record $145 billion to smokers and their families, a penalty the companies say could put them out of business.

10. AIRLINES PASSENGER WOES: Overloaded airports, airline labor problems and other problems saddled the flying public with a year of flight delays that never seemed to ease.

The following stories filled out the list of the top 20:

11. (tie) U.S. approves permanent normalized trade relations with China; and United Airlines-U.S. Airlines merger

13. Napster online music sharing controversy

14. Biotech corn turns up in food products

15. Corporate profits hit a wall

16. Y2K goes with few hitches

17. AT&T restructures itself

18. Lucent missteps cut earnings, cost CEO's job

19. Ford acknowledges environmental, safety problems in SUVs

20. Baby Bells win entry to long-distance market.

-- The (news@of.2000), December 27, 2000

Answers

The election wasn't a news story? Mrs. Clinton wins NY didn't make news over "baby bells win entry to long-distance". That's news to me.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), December 27, 2000.

This article is about the top 10 business stories of 2000, Maria. There's another thread if you want to see the top overall stories of the year.

AP's Top Stories of 2000: Election, Elian

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=004IIG

-- The (news@of.2000), December 27, 2000.

I see :)

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), December 27, 2000.