One of the last times the city was recovering from a winter snowstorm so soon after Christmas, President Clinton was in the White House, Princess Diana secured her divorce from Charles and OJ Simpson was about to begin his murder trial, and Ronald Perelman and wife No. 3, Patricia Duff, were madly in love.
The Clinton-era storm set off a red-hot market, with the S&P 500 adding 20 percent on the year on top of a 34 percent pop the year before. Sound familiar?
The economic and political circumstances surrounding both storms are more alike than not.
In both cases, the president was well into his second term and looking more ahead than behind, a nasty government showdown had been reconciled, and the Federal Reserve played a key role in the market rallies.
But 18 years after the first instance, there is little Fed-sparked talk of irrational exuberance — at least not if you keep your feet out of Manhattan or your eyes firmly planted on the ground.
While newly elected Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks of “affordable housing,” scores of new residential skyscrapers are now dotting Central Park, with price tags of $50 million-plus — a trend that doesn’t look like it will abate anytime soon.
Downtown, on Wall Street, things are humming along as well, with investors still itching for the latest initial public offering.
Like Facebook in 2012 and Twitter in 2013, Alibaba is expected to be the bellwether IPO of 2014. For those not familiar with Asia’s biggest e-tailer, Alibaba is Amazon, eBay and PayPal wrapped up in one.
It’s expected to raise anywhere from $15 billion to $20 billion — that’s Facebook money.
It’s unclear just when Jack Ma, Alibaba’s executive chairman, will pull the trigger on the much-anticipated offering, but the timing and execution will need to be precise given its corporate structure and Chinese domicile.
With newly minted tech riches awaiting, 2014 may resemble, though not repeat, 1996.