Hot and Youthful

The year 2000 was a US presidential election year, and primary campaigns within both the Republican Party and Democratic Party were currently in full swing:

Within the Republican Party, Governor of Texas George W. Bush and veteran Arizona federal senator John McCain were locked in fierce competition;

On the Democratic Party side, Vice President Al Gore and former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley were also competing, with Vice President Al Gore serving as Clinton's endorsed candidate.

John McCain's unexpected victory in the New Hampshire primary had put considerable pressure on George W. Bush. His advocacy for campaign finance reform and other issues had drawn support from many voters;

But the Bush family had abundant resources, and it would be difficult for John McCain to defeat George W. Bush in the internal contest.

At this time, however, Aaron had arrived in Manhattan, New York, because the NASDAQ index had shifted and begun to decline!

On Monday, March 13, as soon as NASDAQ opened that morning, leading technology companies such as Cisco, Microsoft, and Dell were hit with simultaneous sell orders worth billions of US dollars;

The selling caused the NASDAQ index to fall from 5,038 to 4,879 on March 13, a full four percentage points—the largest percentage of premarket selling for the entire year.

As Monday's massive initial block sell orders were processed, they quickly triggered a chain reaction of sell-offs;

Investors, funds, and banking institutions all began liquidating their positions. In just five days, by the weekend, the NASDAQ index had fallen to 4,580!

Yet market analysts said this was merely a correction in the stock market. Many speculated that the reversal in the index and the ensuing bear market might have been triggered by the trial in Federal Government v. Microsoft;

The ruling declaring Microsoft a monopoly would be