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Obama made one of history's greatest stock market calls 10 years ago
Carolyn Kaster/AP
Stocks fell to the lowest level of the recession nine years ago on March 6, 2009.
Days earlier, Obama said the market was getting so cheap that "buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you've got a long-term perspective on it."
Stocks have nearly quadrupled since then.
This post has been updated.
Former President Barack Obama nailed it.
On March 6, 2009, the S&P 500 index dropped to an intraday low of 666.79. This level also ended up being the bottom of the stock market's decline in the midst of the Great Recession.
Three days earlier, Obama, who entered office in 2009 — the year after stocks lost nearly 40% — answered a reporter's question about the stock market. But he could not have known that it would end up being one of the most perfectly timed market calls ever.
On March 3, Obama told reporters: "What you're now seeing is profit-and-earnings ratios are starting to get to the point where buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you've got a long-term perspective on it."
After the market closes on Wednesday, the current bull market will tie for the longest in history. Since the March 2009 low, the S&P 500 has nearly quadrupled, with a gain of about 324%.
Andy Kiersz/Business Insider
Obama also offered a valuable lesson in investing, which would come handy when the next recession or bear market hits.
"What I'm looking at is not the day-to-day gyrations of the stock market, but the long-term ability for the United States and the entire world economy to regain its footing," Obama said. "And the stock market is sort of like a tracking poll in politics. It bobs up and down day-to-day, and if you spend all your time worrying about that, then you're probably going to get the long-term strategy wrong."
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