The year was 1957. Russia launched Sputnik, Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the White House, Elvis swiveled his hips in "Jailhouse Rock" and the Dow and the Nikkei were at level pegging.
Fast forward to today. After following Sputnik into orbit, the Nikkei has crashed back to earth, closing below the Dow for the first time in more than 44 years. The indexes touched briefly last Sept. 12, when the Nikkei plummeted after the previous day's terror attacks on the U.S.
Wall Street was closed for business, and the convergence of two of the world's bellwether stock indexes was lost in the shock of the deadly attacks. By the next day, the Nikkei was back above the Dow. Today's reunion, far from being a happy one, is inspiring dread in financial capitals. The Nikkei's slide is the latest side effect of Japan's 11-year slump. Another was underlined yesterday when S&P raised the specter of a third cut to the country's credit rating. The Dow added 157 points to close at 9920 yesterday. The Nikkei finished the week at 9791, after shedding 206 points today, taking its losses since Monday's opening bell to 3.9 percent.