A bet on Amazon at the stock market's exact bottom of the financial crisis nine years ago Friday would have made brave investors a lots of money.
Investors who put $10,000 in Amazon on March 9, 2009 — when the S&P 500 hit its closing low during the financial crisis — would have $250,000 today. Amazon, which closed at $60.49 per share on that date, has risen more than 2,000 percent since then. On Thursday, the stock closed at $1,551.86.
The bull market began nine years ago on Friday. The date marked the "Haines Bottom." Before the open on March 10, 2009, CNBC anchor Mark Haines called the bottom of the financial crisis on air.
Of course for the rest of us, calling the market bottom and buying Amazon at those exact levels would have been nearly impossible. Still, it's a useful exercise to look at these returns to illustrate how sometimes the best time to buy is when others are most fearful.
Investing in popular tech name Nvidia would have yielded even bigger returns. Investors who bet $10,000 on the chipmaker back then would have more than $300,000 today. Between the market bottom and now, Nvidia rose more than 2,700 percent.
Other stocks that would have yielded strong returns for investors include J.P. Morgan Chase and Expedia.
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