7 Jan – The first commercial bank in the United States, the Bank of North America, opened for business (1782).
16 Jan – The Pope appointed the Medici family as the official bankers of the Papacy (1412).
8 Feb – The NASDAQ, originally the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations, started business (1971).
23 Feb – The first US mill converting cotton to cloth was founded in Waltham, MA, inaugurating the expansion of the US textile industry (1813).
8 Mar – The New York Stock Exchange was founded (1817).
25 Mar – Member states West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg formed the European Economic Community (1957).
1 May – The Wedgwood Pottery Company, one of the most famous firms in British history, was founded by Josiah Wedgwood (1759).
2 May – English King Charles II approved the Charter of the Hudson Bay Company, opening up exploration, trade and settlement in the region (1670).
3 May – The oldest institution of higher education in modern Greece, the University of Athens, was founded in Athens, Greece (1837).
4 May – During a labor demonstration in Haymarket Square, Chicago, an unknown assailant threw dynamite at police, killing seven police officers and four civilians and injuring scores more (1886).
16 Jun – The Ford Motor Company under founder Henry Ford was incorporated (1903).
23 Jul – The Ford Motor Company sold its first car (1903).
8 Sep – Harvard College, originally called the College at New Town, was established by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1636).
19 Oct – On Black Monday, stock markets beginning in Hong Kong, spreading through Europe and into the United States, plummeted (1987). The US Dow Jones industrial average (DJIA) dropped almost 23%.
24 Oct – On Black Thursday, the US stock market collapsed, spreading financial instability worldwide and initiating the Great Depression (1929).
11 Nov – The Virginia Military Institute was founded in Lexington, Virginia (1839).
28 Nov – After closing for the opening months of World War I, the New York Stock Exchange reopened (1914).
29 Nov – The Atari company released Pong, the first commercially successful video game (1972).
3 Dec – The German Customs Union established the first periodic census in Germany (1834).
27 Dec – 29 nations signed the agreement creating the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (1945).
