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Dow 8,579.19 -678.91 (-7.33%)
Nasdaq 1,645.12 -95.21 (-5.47%)
S&P 500 909.95 -74.99 (-7.61%)
Another massive fall in the markets today, and no doubt the business pages will be full of reasons from liquidating hedge funds, and/or massive shorting and/or mass consumer panic etc., but these recent huge falls are becoming divorced from all economic reality, credit seizure notwithstanding. I shall be putting in a 'buy' order tonight.
Well, it's nice to find some optimism in this sea of darkness 🙂
I think you're right. It has to stop, right? Companies have value. It cannot go too far below actual value, can it? I suppose if they have no liquidity, or outrageous debt…Or the government prints a shit-ton of money (pardon my Fench)…Sooner or later, every who wants to be out of the market will be out, and it will find a bottom that expresses value. It has to be pretty close to actual value, doesn't it?
Yet, it was just announced that the AIG executives are going on yet another expensive spa trip. Who is going to monitor the bail out money? Are there conditions? I don't understand any of this.
🙂
I believe so. Another significant factor in today's big plunge was that the ban on shorting expired today, and thus a number of companies (such as Dow component General Motors) got heavily shorted, driving down their price. I don't believe this drop is sustainable – I mean there's a bucket load of bad news, but it's not like there's a nuclear war or nationwide famine brewing. 🙂
I guess you're doing the right thing. Let's see 🙂
🙂 Yes, we'll see. 😆 Another striking thing about today's trading was that the volatility index – the VIX – reached a blow-out all-time high of 64.92 during today's trading. Unprecedented volatility (upswings and downswings) – and again another strong sign of a bottom.
That's right, Matt. There is a bucket load of cash being held by all the financials, doing nothing except give them a sense that they've actually got something (a sense they are not getting from their mortgage-backed securities! :lol:).But it's like water behind the dam – it's not generating anything and at some point someone is going to realise that a lot more money can be made by putting all this cash to work. But it hasn't happened quite yet – fear is rampant and enterprise is squashed.
Sounds like the AIG PR guy got ahold of the management team, and put the kibosh on the second trip. The Japanese market lost big today, and that's interesting to me. Remember, they lost big in the late 80s, and thought they had rehabilitated the market to prevent such happenings again. In fact, there were some smirks regarding the US market plunge last week – but it's fairly evident now that this isn't an American/European thing. Russia, China, Korea, Australia, Germany, England (and of course Iceland) are all sputtering. Here's my question: where did all the money go? I understand that things – commodities and real property – have lost value. But there's no less money, is there? Just less liquidity?
I have a riend who's a small busines owner. She's made a nice living for 25 years, but she told me tonight that it costs her money to open every day. I don't know where someone like that goes (and the 8 women who work for her, plus the men and women whom she contracts with for small jobs).Heck, at the moment, I'm worried about myself, but i know I have transferrable skills. Her skills are artistic (and entreprenurial), which may not translate into necessary job skills in a weak economy.
This morning doesn't look too promising judging from what's happening in Asia
This has been true of many of us for some time now. This "event" has certainly made that clecar to a lot of people who seemed content living on the edge, though. And maybe people who saw those living on the edge and thought it represented the high life, rather than near panic.I have a friend who upholsters high end furniture. He often gets called to fix furniture that is shipped from the factory with some flaw or other. He visits homes to check the items, and often does his repairs on the spot. Anyway, he's been telling me for several years that he visits people in this city's higher end homes, and they only three rooms worth of furniture – kitchen, living room and bedroom. To me, that says over extended.If you can't afford furniture, you are way to close too bankruptcy to be living in a half or three-quarter million dollar house, and two SUVs is too much.
Another massive fall again today, yes. But over the weekend there's going to be a meeting of the G7 states and I'll bet that at the end of it there will be a coordinated and huge multi-national direct investment in the banking system that should finally force some lending.If there isn't or that doesn't work, well, welcome to the new Stone Age! :lol:Regardless of what happens, all of us are going to have to dial back our expectations of personal wealth. This generation is now guaranteed to have a lower standard of living than the preceeding one. Not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you, like me, regard material wealth as a double-edge sword in terms of real personal fulfillment and happiness.Oh, and yes, I put in my buy order last night! 😆
Wealth as a double-edged sword?I'll agree to that. And maybe the present turmoil will help the world reduce the CO2 outlet significantly, too.
A perception amplified by advertising and our puzzling fascination for the lives of the rich and famous.What is wealth? I would say that the biggest bubble of all in these bursting bubbles has been self-delusion!
Allan, if there is an industrial slow-down – and it's hard to see how that's going to be avoided now – we should see a good reduction in C02 emissions. That would be a good thing! 🙂
Neither could I, Matt. My stomach also knots if I feel we're spending too much, so, as a rule, we don't! 🙂 Paycheck to paycheck living – I would be a nervous wreck!
Yeah. I'm not blaming the whole tihng on over-extended homeowners, especially since there has been so much aggressive recklessness in lending, but my stomach knots up when I get close to spending my income. I couldn't imagine living paycheck to paycheck with $1,000 or $2,000 mortgages and $500 car leases to make every month.