Posted on 12/12/2014 3:07:28 PM PST by Signalman
Stocks plunged from mid-September through mid-October before staging a sharp rebound that culminated with the Dow hitting a new all-time high just a week ago on the back of a strong U.S. jobs report. Heading into this week, many investors were predicting that the Dow would soon top 18,000 for the first time. But the sharp sell-off in oil has changed all that. Crude prices are now below $58 a barrel, their lowest level in more than five years. Energy stocks have been hit hard as a result.
However, oil stocks were not the only big losers on Friday -- and that could be a sign that investors are growing more nervous about the overall market and weaker global economic demand.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
ITEOTWAWKIAIFF
Everything is changing, that’s for sure, but I still feel that most of the economies globally BENEFIT from much lower oil prices. Consumption can rise in a lot of areas. The problem is that so much of the investment boom of the last few years has been IN the energy sector, that as that stops abruptly, there will be a lag waiting for consumption to catch up.
This has not been a bull market. The value of our money is about 1/3 what it was in 2008. In 2008 there were 900,000,000,000 authorized dollars in worldwide circulation. In 2009 Obama added another $900 billion. In 2010 he added another $900 billion. After that they added $87 billion per month in “quantitative easing.” Stock prices have actually dropped. The apparent rise is due to the degradation of our currency. Thank you Obama, for ruining my retirement. I had saved enough to retire comfortably. Now I’m scrambling and working harder than I ever did just to stop from going under.
in the economy of the world all we know is an infinitely fluctuating future
Was I close?
the purchasing power of those dollars has risen dramatically
The Fed is still pumping at full speed. Any downturn will be temporarily until the dollar finally crashes. We just suck less than everyone else.
IDGASWHTTSM
oh, I googled it. Good one.
It goes up. It comes down. Either way, it has always caught the gamblers by surprise.
The usual end of year tax loss selling is a contributing factor.
We will most likely be revisiting highs in Januray as earnings season ramps up.
NO...just a pause which refreshes.
Bear market is out of question so long as FED is keeping zero interest rates (ZIRP). New Highs comin before January ends.
Eventually someone will realize that when I can buy the gas I need to get to work for $26 a week instead of $39, that other $13 will go somewhere other than the energy sector. Multiply that by about 100 million. Add the reduced costs transportation of materials and consumer goods. Draw your own conclusions.
“the purchasing power of those dollars has risen dramatically”
I’m curious. If there were only x dollars and now there are more than 3x dollars, how does their purchasing power go up? (Gas is down, but all the building supplies I use are dramatically up. Food is up. Insurance is WAY up.)Please explain what you mean.
In my case I save $500 on gas and another $500 per year on other expenses like: airline tickets, fuel surcharges, utilities etc. After tax.
So at 4% return, this is equivalent to having $25,000 added to my net worth.
It’s a small sample size, but there are 3 things I’ve paid close attention to the past 12 years.
A one year CD used to pay an interest rate of 4.5% to 5.0%. Since “the bailout”, the rate for the same CD has hovered around .90%. Low interest rates are good if you’re buying on credit or looking for a mortgage, but if you’re retired like me and depend on interest from savings to supplement your retirement income, it’s a killer.
Throughout the Bush years, a large container of either Maxwell House or Folgers coffee cost between $4.99 and $5.49. To be fair, toward the end of Bush’s term, rather than increasing the price, they shrunk the size of the container by a few ounces. The same coffee now costs normally $9.99 and $8.99 if it’s on sale.
I rarely eat in restaurants, so the only time I eat steak is when it’s on sale at the supermarket. When Bush took office, a filet mignon roast was on sale at $4.99 lb. When he left office, the price had risen to $8.99 lb. Under 0b0la, almost immediately the on sale price rose to $12.99 lb.
I’m sure there are many FReeper’s here who can cite specific examples of what the past 2 regimes have done to the value of our money, but these are my 3.
Not before the so called “banking and insurance” got backstopped last night.
Herds of investors also ran to and fro just before the Great Depression, causing fluctuations.
Low oil prices would be good for the economy if not for the regulations and fees against owner-building and new, small manufacturing businesses in rural areas.
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