http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=^VAY+Basic+Chart&t=5y That's an equal-weighted arithmetic average, and it's just gone above 2007 highs. That must be the first 60% bear market whose decline was eliminated entirely within about a year of the lows.
Arthur Cutten was a WHEAT kinda guy rather than equities. But, he did pay for the iron fence around the entire cemetery he's buried in. Nice touch. There are flaws in market cap-weighted indices (more pronounced with only 30 rather than 500 issues), but isn't there ALSO a flaw in weighing ALL issues the same? Does the contract reflecting Value Line Index still trade on the Kansas City Board of Trade? Ever give any thought to the NY Composite? Nasdaq is just along for the ride. Ditto for Amex. As a sidenote, the performance of the Value Line mutual funds, whose selections adhere to their 1-5 ranking system is what?
Actually he was a big stock player in the 1920s bull market, being one of the major bulls. He lost a fair chunk in 1930s crash, although he still died fairly rich.
Yes, yes, he lost a fair chuck in equites, but he wasn't a pool operator and his intial job was in grains, 1893 I believe. In Canada. He's the one that cleaned Livermore's clock in wheat.