CBC Digital Archives

Stock Market: TSE triumphs in 1979

It was in 1929 that the volatile and powerful nature of the stock market first became clear. That year's market crash and ensuing decade-long depression revealed the vital, yet fragile nature of this system, and its tremendous power over world economies. The centre of that complex web has always lain in New York City, and what happens in the U.S. has usually had direct, and sometimes disastrous effects on Canadians. The CBC Digital Archives looks back on 50 years of coverage from 1958-2008, covering the crashes, "corrections," peaks and valleys of the stock market.

The biggest stock exchange in Canada was the biggest in the world in 1979, as the Toronto Stock Exchange finished the year up a whopping 38 per cent, its best performance ever. The TSE easily outpaced other major exchanges around the world, posting higher numbers than Tokyo and London combined in a year where New York and Frankfurt ultimately took losses. The CBC's Fred Langan takes you inside the TSE to discover what creates the ups and downs of Canadian markets, and what made 1979 so bullish.
• In stock market terms, a "bull market" is a period of investor confidence during which share prices increase, and a "bear" market is the opposite. The origin of these terms is a matter of debate; many suggestions exist (bears hibernate while bulls do not, or bulls charge aggressively while bears are slower and sometimes lazier) but there is no agreed-upon etymology.

• A stock market "correction" is generally defined as a 10-20 per cent drop in market values, but over a very short period of time.

Medium: Television
Program: The National
Broadcast Date: June 20, 1979
Guest(s): J. Pearce Bunting, Bill Gillespie, Nicholas Keane
Host: Knowlton Nash
Reporter: Fred Langan
Duration: 3:24

Last updated: February 7, 2012

Page consulted on May 10, 2013

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