So much for retirement, vacations, new cars, and the good life.
Down 616 on the Dow. 5th down day in a row. Same with the Nasdaq, down 355.1
CNBC will probably capitalize on this doom and thwart any possible rally on Mon.
I hate when this happens, though I guess it’s overdue. Crap.
Well, did we expect all of the shitty dot.coms to just keep raising in price in spite of the fact that hardly any of them are going to make a profit? Ever?!?
Yer pal,
Satan
http://www.raleighmusic.com/board/Images/devil.gif
I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR:
Five days, 18 hours, 43 minutes and 58 seconds.
231 cigarettes not smoked, saving $28.90.
Life saved: 19 hours, 15 minutes.
I agree with you but today was a pretty broad-based general slaughter.
Heinz and Colgate got clobbered too.
Yeah, well, deal with it.
I remember the '87 market “meltdown” (yes, there were stocks back then). I was contracted at an investment firm; we all stared at the terminals (yes, there was electricity back then) and watched the Dow fall over 500 points (NAS-what? In 1987?). I was so shaken by the whole thing that I went out and had a drink, which made it indistinguishable from any other night. As I recall, it took us the rest of the year (which was, granted, only about 9½ weeks) to get back to where we’d been – about Dow 2300 (you mean there was a time when the Dow was only four digits, Gran’pa?).
A year from now this will all seem like it was twelve months ago.
“I don’t just want you to feel envy. I want you to suffer, I want you to bleed, I want you to die a little bit each day. And I want you to thank me for it.” – What “Let’s just be friends” really means
Now is the time for all of us to relax, calm down, and reflect on the fact that all of the major indexes are still either above where they were a year ago (or, in the case of the DOW, close to it).
I’m going to watch Wall Street Week tonight just to see what Uncle Louis is going to do to cheer us up. The last time something like this happened he showed up in bandages and splints 
Of course, if you were buying your stocks on margin…
The worst part will be reading Alan Abelson gloating in tomorrow’s Barron’s. I swear that guy has predicted 50 of the last 2 market declines.
Well, that’s it. Call the funeral parlor, I’m jumpin’.
Tell me about it.
To make matters worse, because I changed jobs last year, my 401k rolled over from one company to another.
I could roll it over, but I can’t contribute till I’ve been here a year (have a couple more months to go).
So, rather than having a little money going into the stock market at a time, so occasionally you’re buying when prices are lower, all of mine went in in one big fat lump in December, just in time for the bottom to drop out.
It wasn’t all that much, but still.
I better start manufacturing some children I can leetch off of in my later years.
“We are here for this – to make mistakes and to correct ourselves, to withstand the blows and to hand them out.” Primo Levi
What a fuckin’ bloodbath.
If you look at all the major corrections in the past many years (i.e. Asain Trade crisis, gulf war) there were underlying problems. However in this crash/correction(whatever you want to call it) the fundamentals in the underlying market are better than they have ever have been before. The recent selloff is not fundamental, but technical (pretty strange). You better have stocks with good earnings growth, the market is more discriminating now. If you have any money I would suggest you put it in now. This is probably the best oppertunity in the past 3-4 years to jump in. I predict people will panic this weekend and put sell orders in which will drive the markets lower on Monday morning. However I strongly believe that the market will catch itself on Monday and turn around. There are some incredible buys out there so don’t miss this oppertunity if you have money to invest.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.
Get a grip! A 7% decline is hardly a ‘slaughter’ or a ‘bloodbath.’ Fact is, stocks have been way, way overvalued for a long time. You can’t have p/e ratios in the 30’s for extended periods of time. Nor can you have companies who have never made a profit continue to operate with cash raised from selling off pieces of equity. I think the best is still yet to come. Divest while you can, and put your money into real estate.
::
CalifBoomer wrote
Grip this, pal.
Sorry, I’m not in the mood for analysis.
Akatsukami:
I appreciate the party line. “Don’t panic, the market always comes back.” That’s closely followed by “It’s not a loss until you sell.” BS! It’s real money!
I think we have another 2-3 hours of selling and we maybe rally Monday afternoon.
The good ole days may not be back for a while though. I’m glad I’ve been hedging with utilities, financials and consumer staples.
Califboomer:
Wow! I’m impressed. Another subject you know absolute nothing about.
Akatsu and Scylla and Bill, I gotta agree with you.
Calif, either you know nothing of the market, or you have no money in it.
I have a picture of a jumper on the ground I was gonna post, but I thought it too Gauche.
Akatsukami:
I too am a financial services professional. I’ve been a trader with a wirehouse, as well as a rep. I hold several professional licenses, and have worked in the industry since I graduated College.
I haven’t mentioned this before, because for all anybody knows I might just as well be a janitor who’s lying to make himself look good. I don’t think it lends any credibility to my arguments.
Today was a very bad day. We violated every support level and it’s a gambler’s choice as to what happens Monday.
While 1987 recovered quickly, the bottom line is that the markets really didn’t start to move again until 1991.
Japan has taken 10 years.
If you don’t take this correction seriously and think happy times are just gonna resume like before, you may be in store for some hurtin’.
Ok. Have it your way. I’ll just watch my real estate equity appreciate when those billions come flying out of the markets into REITs, LLCs and other creative ways of holding a solid asset.
Meaningless.
Japan is pretty (VERY) lame in camparison to us. You oviously have no idea how good the economy is here in the little ol USA. Do you realize how much money is on the sidelines right now. Once a definitive bottom has formed money will be pouring in raising the indices back up.
You may be in store for a surprise.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.
Reits?
PPFFFFFFFFF! I’m cracking up. Yeah sure.
Reits exist predominantly as vehicles for disposing of unattractive properties to suckers. Historically, the perform like crap, have always performed like crap, and are doomed because of their structure to perform like crap in perpetuity. There are only a handful that are only semi-decent.
Their direct ancestors, the limited partnerships of the '80s didn’t fare so well in the '87 crash. Most are worthless today, and because of tax law changes it’s almost impossible to sell them or write off your losses except against passive income.
Unless you are are extremely sophisticated in this area (no offense but you’re not,) you’re probably dead meat.
I’m sure you believe that the real estate market is completely unrelated to things like interest rates, liquidity, and money supply.
Good luck!
I seem to recall a saying about fools and money. What was it? hmmm.
Come on Caliboom if you think real estate is the next biggest thing you’re outta your depth.
Silo:
I agree with you fundamentally. My credentials are meaningless, which is why I only mentioned them in relation to Akatukumi’s.
It is a buying opportunity. There is an old saying though “don’t try to catch a falling knife.” I think it applies.
You will have to define what money is on the sidelines if you would like me to respond. I take sideline money to imply that which is potentially willing or able to come into the market. Per capita investment in the equity markets has been at an all time high for quite some time now. I could argue that most of the CD and fixed income money has already come out.
When you compare the attractive yields available in the fixed income markets to the expected returns of stocks (which is rapidly changing in certain sectors,) bonds become quite attractive. To back up this argument you need only look at the decreasing inflows reported to equity mutual funds in the last month, as well as the rally in the bond market (today noninclusive.)
Actually the Japan Simile is very close to target. The extreme multiples in speculative securities, the premium paid for volatility, and the arampant enthusiasm in the Japanese markets of the late '80s and our market today are very similar. The parrallel is widely accepted, as is the premise that the Japanes economy became a leading indicator during that timeframe. It may be our turn to roll rocks up hills for a while, Sisyphuss.
I think if you are in the right sectors and hold stocks with reasonable PEs and demonstrable and continuable earnings growth prospects than you are likely in very very good shape.
If you are a momentum player, you’re screwed. Look at a one month chart on MNNAX.
Smart people with high quality equities will outperform in the long haul.
It doesn’t mean that this week doesn’t suck for everybody though.