Enron's first write-down was 25 years ago. A trade from October 1962 ran on gallows humor.

Two In Market History columns, a day apart, tell the two halves of one rule. Fear about the world is usually the kind to buy through. Fear about one company is the kind to act on early.

By Sean Anees Saifi · Capital Wealth · Published Friday, October 16, 2026 · Source: The Wall Street Journal, Friday, October 16, 2026, whose market figures are the Thursday, October 15 close (Markets)

Key Points

On Oct. 16, 2001, Enron reported a $618 million quarterly loss from a $1.01 billion charge for soured investments.
Chairman and chief executive Kenneth Lay also disclosed a $1.2 billion cut to shareholder equity. Enron filed for bankruptcy less than two months later.
On Oct. 15, 1962, photos of Soviet missiles in Cuba began the 13-day Cuban Missile Crisis. Stocks fell. A rookie trader named Art Cashin was told to buy.
The older colleague's reasoning was that if the trade went wrong, nobody would be around to settle it. The trade worked.
The rule we take from the pair. A write-down is a company telling you, in its own numbers, that it was worth less than it said. That's the fear to act on.

$618 million

Enron's quarterly loss, reported Oct. 16, 2001

$1.01 billion

Charge for soured investments behind the loss

$1.2 billion

Cut to Enron's shareholder equity disclosed the same day

13 days

Length of the Cuban Missile Crisis, from Oct. 15, 1962

A columned stone exchange building on an empty cobblestone street in lower Manhattan, morning sun lighting the facade and surrounding towers.

Enron filed for bankruptcy less than two months after its first write-down. The layoffs came in December 2001.

In one line: Enron's first write-down and the Cuban Missile Crisis trade, side by side, show which kind of fear to buy through and which kind to act on.

On Oct. 16, 2001, Enron surprised Wall Street with a $618 million quarterly loss. The cause was a $1.01 billion charge for soured investments. On the call, chairman and chief executive Kenneth Lay added that the company had cut shareholder equity by $1.2 billion. The company shrank overnight, on paper. Less than two months later it filed for bankruptcy.

The Journal's In Market History column marked the date on Friday, Oct. 16. The photo beside it shows Enron employees after the layoffs of December 2001. That's the part of the story we remember. The column leaves out one detail, and we add it here as background. Many Enron workers held a lot of the company's stock in their retirement plans. When the stock went, the job and the nest egg went together.

A day earlier the same column told a happier story. On Oct. 15, 1962, photographs showed Soviet nuclear-capable missiles in Cuba. The 13-day Cuban Missile Crisis began. Stocks fell. Art Cashin, later a veteran trader, was a rookie then. An older colleague told him to buy. The reasoning was pure gallows humor. “Cause if you're wrong, the trade will never clear. We'll all be dead.” The trade worked.

Two kinds of scary

Put the two columns side by side and you get a rule. There's fear about the world, and there's fear about one company. World fear is usually the kind to buy through, because the bad case is one where nothing you own matters anyway. Company fear is different. A write-down is the company telling you, in its own numbers, that it was worth less than it said. That's the kind to take seriously, and early.

Our read

This is Behavioral with a Retirement · M10 core. Enron was 25 years ago and the setup still exists. Some 401(k) plans still pay part of the match in company stock, and many offer it as a choice. Plenty of employees let it ride because it's the company they know. The problem is that your paycheck and your savings then share one risk. No book of ours leans on one company's stock the way those workers did. Our most common holding, the Treasury-bill fund SGOV, sits in 49 books at about 5% each. That's the shape of a position you can sleep through.

Your plan touches this in one line of the 401(k) app, the employer stock. This week, open the app and find that line. Note the dollar amount and its share of the whole account. If it's over 10%, write the number down and bring it to us. Then check whether your plan lets you move the match out of company stock. You patch the roof while the sky is clear. That one number is where we'd start a review.

What It Means For Your Portfolio

Hold. Keep your employer out of your nest egg.

Your paycheck already depends on your employer, so your retirement savings shouldn't depend on the same company's stock.

General planning principles, not advice for anyone in particular. Count company stock as a share of your whole retirement account, and treat anything over 10% as a position that needs a reason.

Separate the two fears. A market scare about the world is usually a time to keep buying on schedule. A company's own write-down is a time to look hard at how much of it you own.