The Decade in Investing: Take Our Quiz -- Journal Report

By Chris Kornelis 

Now that the decade has been in the rearview for almost a week, how much of it do you remember?

Take this quiz to see what you absorbed about some of the company, market and money moves that defined the 2010-19 decade. (Spoiler alert: We're not asking a question about whether the decade actually ends at the end of 2020. That is for others to fixate on.)

1. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the decade at a near-record 28538.44. Where did it open in 2010?

A. 15430.69

B. 10430.69

C. 12430.69

D. 9430.69

Answer: B. The Dow opened at a mere 10430.69 on Jan. 4, 2010.

2. The U.S. economy has been expanding since 2009 -- a run that predates all but one of these TV shows. Which one has been making episodes for longer than the expansion?

A. "Last Man Standing"

B. "Downton Abbey"

C. "Atlanta"

D. "Grey's Anatomy"

Answer: D. "Grey's Anatomy," in its 16th season, premiered in 2005, before the 2007-09 recession and the June 2009 start of the U.S.'s longest economic expansion.

3. Blockbuster Inc. delisted from the NYSE in 2010. The video chain's de facto successor, Netflix, opened that year at $7.93, joined the S&P 500 that December and closed 2019 at $323.57, making it the index's biggest percentage gainer of the decade. What is the first Netflix series to win a Primetime Emmy Award?

A. "Lilyhammer"

B. "House of Cards"

C. "The Crown"

D. "Stranger Things"

Answer: B. "House of Cards" in 2013.

4. On May 6, 2010, during what is known as the "flash crash," how far did the Dow fall in just 36 minutes?

A. 15,000 points

B. 1,500 points

C. 1,000 points

D. 10,000 points

Answer: C. The flash crash caused a brief fall of nearly 1,000 points -- 9.2% of the index at the time.

5. Groupon went public on Nov. 4, 2011, at $20 a share. Where did it close at the end of 2019?

A. $239 a share

B. $23.90

C. $2.39

D. The stock didn't trade publicly in 2019.

Answer: C. $2.39.

6. Oliver Stone followed up his 1987 classic, "Wall Street," with a sequel in 2010. What was it called?

A. "Wall Street: Money Never Lies"

B. "Wall Street: Money Never Dies"

C. "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps"

D. "Wall Street: Because It's Wreckable"

Answer: C. "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," starring Michael Douglas and Shia LaBeouf, made $134 million world-wide at the box office, according to Box Office Mojo, and has a 44% audience score on RottenTomatoes.com.

7. Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF closed 2019 at $163.62. Where had it opened in 2010?

A. $56.86

B. $91.32

C. $104.32

D. $25.32

Answer: A. It opened at $56.86, before the giant broad-market fund rode the bull market through the decade.

8. Apple closed 2019 at $293.65 a share. How much did it trade for on Jan. 27, 2010, the day it announced the iPad?

A. $29.55

B. $99.55

C. $199.55

D. $399.55

Answer: A. Apple stock opened at $29.55 on Jan. 27, 2010. (By comparison, on that same day, shares of Amazon.com opened at $121.03. The retailer closed the last day of trading in the decade at $1,847.84.)

9. The Brent crude-oil benchmark opened the decade at $78.49 a barrel, ended at $66 a barrel and peaked at $128.40 in 2012. What was its low point in the decade?

A. $17.10

B. $27.10

C. $37.10

D. $7.10

Answer: B. Brent fell to as low as $27.10 on Jan. 20, 2016. That day, Exxon Mobil, the largest U.S. oil producer, closed at $73.18. It ended the decade at $69.78.

10. In 2019, for the first time, index funds became more popular than what?

A. The stock market

B. The euro

C. The dollar

D. Actively managed funds

Answer: D. Actively managed funds lost out as index-based investing firmly took hold.

11. Spotify went public on the NYSE in a direct listing in 2018, and streaming now accounts for roughly 80% of music consumption. Which of the following songs has been streamed the most on Spotify?

A. Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone"

B. The Beatles' "Hey Jude"

C. The Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"

D. Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello's "Señorita"

Answer: D. With just over a billion streams, "Señorita" has been streamed on Spotify more than "Hey Jude" (230 million), "Like a Rolling Stone" (157 million) and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (270 million) combined.

12. Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment for roughly $4.3 billion in a deal that closed Dec. 31, 2009. What is the world-wide box-office gross for just the four "Avengers" movies?

A. $4.70 billion

B. $5.70 billion

C. $6.70 billion

D. $7.70 billion

Answer: D. According to Box Office Mojo, the combined world-wide box-office receipts for 2012's "The Avengers" ($1.5 billion), 2015's "Avengers: Age of Ultron" ($1.4 billion), 2018's "Avengers: Infinity War" ($2 billion) and 2019's "Avengers: Endgame" ($2.8 billion), is in excess of $7.7 billion.

13. In 2019, which of the decade's best-selling personal-finance books outsold Jeff Kinney's "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball"?

A. Dave Ramsey, "Total Money Makeover"

B. Benjamin Graham, "The Intelligent Investor"

C. Tony Robbins, "Money: Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom"

D. Robert Kiyosaki, "Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!"

E. None of the above

Answer: E. With 793,000 copies sold in 2019, the most recent installment of the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series outsold the best-selling personal-finance books of the decade last year, according to NPD Group.

Mr. Kornelis is a writer in Seattle. He can be reached at [e-mail].

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 05, 2020 22:21 ET (03:21 GMT)

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