So the stock market's gotten hammered this week.

[Footer Phooter]

Last 3 days have been pretty ugly. Discuss.

[christopher d]

How 'bout:

All those accountants getting all spreadsheet-happy had them thinking "hmm... I wonder if I still know how to do a firm valuation?". So, they look at what their holdings should be worth, beginning a sell-off from the bespectacled set.

Or maybe the oil prices going through the roof and the consumer confidence index taking a hit had something to do with it.

[Roel]

In a recession, cash is king. We're not in a recession, yet, but oil prices and interest rates should cool things down for a while. I just wondering how long things are going to trend downwards, and when they find bottom, how long they will stay there.

[Sachin]

It's about time the market pulls back. It had a tremendous increase on the basis of not much at all, IMHO. Interesting to see what Q2 holds.

Sachin

[Pathogen]

It's about time the market pulls back. It had a tremendous increase on the basis of not much at all, IMHO. Interesting to see what Q2 holds.

Sachin
Well this is anecdotal at best, but we're still planning on following through on our travel plans this summer. That doesn't mean that the gas prices (which I think is the biggest factor for a slowing economy) haven't hit us. Hell, we just got socked with a much higher gas bill than normal due to the increases in natural gas AND the fact that we had a very cold January and February. That bill felt like a kick in the nuts.

Anyway, my point is that even though gas has soared, our spending hasn't curbed all that much. However, anything higher ($3/gal), we're going to really have to cut back on things. And I'm one of the luck (smart) ones that buys vehicles with really good gas mileage. I can't imagine what it's like for the people out there driving SUVs and trucks.

[jared9999]

kk

[Pathogen]

kk
Elaborate.

As an aside, market has done well the past three days. Any probability that this is sustainable?

[VFish]

As an aside, market has done well the past three days. Any probability that this is sustainable?Down one week, up the next. IMO short term speculation is pointless. Where's the market going to be in ten years?

[Pathogen]

Down one week, up the next. IMO short term speculation is pointless. Where's the market going to be in ten years?
You tell me. And when I say sustainable, I am talking the long term. Psst...got any hot stock tips?

I do find it funny how CNBC get's all wet over a good week on the market.

[VFish]

You tell me.North

[Footer Phooter]

I do find it funny how CNBC get's all wet over a good week on the market.


Probably because the commentator's net worth just went up a hundred grand. It's still nothing like the screaming orgasm of the late 90's on that station though.

[Pathogen]

Probably because the commentator's net worth just went up a hundred grand. It's still nothing like the screaming orgasm of the late 90's on that station though.
I missed out on all of that because I was oveseas in Okinawa. No CNBC there. I do remember how giddy FNC anchors would get whenever they covered the financial news late '99 to early 2000 after I got back to the States. That was about the time the NASDAQ was over 5000 and the Dow was over 15,000. Good times. Great times considering I had absolutely nothing invested when that sh!t came crashing to earth.

Yeah, I guess making an assload of money on one day's trading would probably make me pretty happy too. It most certainly wouldn't make me objective, though.

[Footer Phooter]

Yeah, I guess making an assload of money on one day's trading would probably make me pretty happy too. It most certainly wouldn't make me objective, though.


....and that was one of the big complaints when it came crashing down. CNBC basically was just cheerleading the whole thing.

[Wingtips1]

I missed out on all of that because I was oveseas in Okinawa. No CNBC there. I do remember how giddy FNC anchors would get whenever they covered the financial news late '99 to early 2000 after I got back to the States. That was about the time the NASDAQ was over 5000 and the Dow was over 15,000. Good times. Great times considering I had absolutely nothing invested when that sh!t came crashing to earth.


want to rethink that Dow #?

but as an aside:
-We still have record corporate earnings. I believe out of the S&P 500 that had reported two weeks ago, 70% beat estimates, 15% met est. and only 15% were below.
-Inflation is still low.
-Gas prices are starting to loose some of their bullish tendencies. As are the other commodities.
-We are starting to see small signs of life out of the EU countries realizing their economies are failing and changes are necessary.
-Jobs continue to grow.

All these should add up to a bullish evironment, but everybody in the media not employed by CNBC is so down trodden on Bush, they forget to present all these facts. But all we ever hear is that some factory workers have lost their jobs to a China-men, so we should think the economy is going to hell because we are losing our 'middle class'.

[Pathogen]

want to rethink that Dow #?

but as an aside:
-We still have record corporate earnings. I believe out of the S&P 500 that had reported two weeks ago, 70% beat estimates, 15% met est. and only 15% were below.
-Inflation is still low.
-Gas prices are starting to loose some of their bullish tendencies. As are the other commodities.
-We are starting to see small signs of life out of the EU countries realizing their economies are failing and changes are necessary.
-Jobs continue to grow.

All these should add up to a bullish evironment, but everybody in the media not employed by CNBC is so down trodden on Bush, they forget to present all these facts. But all we ever hear is that some factory workers have lost their jobs to a China-men, so we should think the economy is going to hell because we are losing our 'middle class'.
http://www.djindexes.com/mdsidx/index.cfm?event=showavgDecades&decade=1990

I guess I was off a little bit. For some odd reason I do remember it being higher. Then again, I didn't have anything invested at that time, so my view was probably skewed.

Stow your "liberal media" bullsh!t. I got toasted the other day for taking a swipe at the military. Numbers don't lie. The middle class is slowly eroding.

[Wingtips1]

http://www.djindexes.com/mdsidx/index.cfm?event=showavgDecades&decade=1990

I guess I was off a little bit. For some odd reason I do remember it being higher. Then again, I didn't have anything invested at that time, so my view was probably skewed.

Stow your "liberal media" bullsh!t. I got toasted the other day for taking a swipe at the military. Numbers don't lie. The middle class is slowly eroding.

i wasn't criticizing your Dow #, just letting you know..

But as for the middle class erosion...the middle class of the US will no longer work in factories. They will work in the service sector. Auto mechanics (would make sense for a displaced UAW worker to head into this sector, no?), construction workers, landscapers. This will be the new face of the middle class.
Check out Cloutier's 'right side up 'U' theory', it perfectly explains where we are heading. When our nation first was coming into the Industrial Age, we had high income inequality. But as our nation become Industrialized, the income gap lessened. It reached near 'equal' levels in the last bubble, and now we are seeing the decline of manufacturing as predicted by Cloutier, which leads to the rise of the service sector and an increase in wage inequality.

Being in the free market, this is inevitable. I would love to keep all those jobs and add new ones, but it isn't reality. There is no policy you can enact to keep those jobs here. You must realize change, accept it, and grow with it.

[Sachin]

All these should add up to a bullish evironment, but everybody in the media not employed by CNBC is so down trodden on Bush, they forget to present all these facts. But all we ever hear is that some factory workers have lost their jobs to a China-men, so we should think the economy is going to hell because we are losing our 'middle class'.

Let's please keep politics out of this forum.

Sachin

[Wingtips1]

Let's please keep politics out of this forum.

Sachin

I would love to do just that. sorry for the swipe, but how else can one explain this low confidence when the numbers are ALL solid.

[Sachin]

Maybe this has something to do with it:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ibd/050519/general.html

Sachin

[Pathogen]

I would love to do just that. sorry for the swipe, but how else can one explain this low confidence when the numbers are ALL solid.
My point, and what Sachin pointed out (thank you), is that fewer people are benefitting from this so called hot (strong?) economy. Real middle class wage regression is not good for the country, and it most certainly isn't something we should just roll with and accept. Change is one thing. But when it harms the overall majority of Americans, that's a entirely different situation.

I'm not in any way trying to make a political statement. I believe that the more disposable income the majority of us have, the better we all do, the better for the country as a whole. But as Sachin pointed out with the article, the higher costs of goods are starting to take their toll. I can tell you from personal experience that cost cutting has been the only way I've stayed ahead. It sure as hell isn't through merit raises at work (I know that's specific to me), but I've encountered one person that is indeed better off financially in the last year. Everyone else I speak with has taken pay cuts, gotten no or very low wage increases (not enough to cover increased costs), had their bonuses eliminated, or have flat out lost their job only to get another that pays considerably less. Hell, I work with three people that have peaked their earnings. That means that can't even get a raise anymore because the company won't give them one. They apparently make too much. There's some incentive to work harder.

Anyway, we're kind of blasting this thread way off track. I apologize for that. And I didn't think you were criticizing my Dow number. I was flat out wrong on it, by a lot. And I'm still perplexed that I was that far off. I do remember though, how there was talk about the NASDAQ possibly reaching the Dow. I almost choked when I heard that one.