Posted on 10/15/2008 7:17:16 AM PDT by Red Badger
8,960.86 down -350.13 -3.76%
They must have a really clear crystal ball.............
Who says? Between 1966 - to the end of 1982 the market produced a return of 1.62%
There is no reason for the market to ever come back. If you are paying attention the WORLDS FINANCIAL systems has collapsed.
The people who buy and hold are sitting in their chairs as the house is burning down.
You account falls 50% you now need to have it move 100% to get even.
Good luck.
Recently it has gone down almost 800 in a single day, and up almost 1000 in a single day. Thus going down 300 or 400 in a single morning may not indicate the direction it will ultimately take this month, or even this week.
I am willing to say precisely that. You talk about supply and demand, which is all very well... but you don't really talk about the why of supply or demand.
Let's look at the market performance of the last few weeks, which have been driven by the supply side. Why does a person decide to sell at fire sale prices?
The "why" part of the supply side is of course quite complicated -- but when there are "big things" afoot, I think we can look to those things for an explanation.
So for this market: people are selling because they're afraid, and want to get away from the investments that scare them (before they drop even further). Theirs is an emotional and therefore mostly irrational response. I think fears about the upcoming election may in fact explain a lot (though certainly not all) of the market volatility.
And then ... why does a seller suddenly become a buyer? Again, I think there's a huge emotional component to this -- probably less driven by McCain/Obama, than by a sudden (and irrational) hope that "things will go back to how they were."
IMO, "down" translates to a combination of election anxiety coupled with a generalized nagging fear about the markets. "Up" translates to anything that seems to assuage the nagging fear.
Think of this way.If everyone quit putting money into their 401Ks and IRAs,what would happen to stock prices?What would happen to companies?You're seeing an example right now on the DJIA of people pulling their money out of stocks.This will mean companies will have less money to invest in their future,unless you get a big turn around.They are propped up by the stock purchases of the masses,instead of being propped up with their profits.
I'm not saying it's a scam on you or I,but an artificial inflation of a companies worth.That's the scam.
There is a debate tonight. Obama needs to something to justify socialism.
They are both Socialists
What does it matter if it’s by private individuals or through a 401K fund, though? And, why would a fund be more likely to invest poorly than an average joe? They are pros, they do it for a living, and give many of us who otherwise wouldn’t be able to make as-educated buys of stocks the opportunity to hold good stocks with the risk spread.
I think, if anything, for MOST people, investing through a fund like a 401K fund is a much better choice than self-picking and day trading on a couple of stocks, which is MORE likely, in my opinion, to do what you consider to be the scam of 401K’s in artificially inflating bad companies.
Not if you are short.....it ain't.
: )
However, what you fail to mention is that in the 1970's we had interest rates in double digits, and investment money was in money market funds, not stocks. If we start having double digit interest rates again, you will see movement out of the stock market and into the bond market.
With the majority of pensions now defined contribution rather than defined benefit, there is built-in purchasing demand in the system that just didn't exist prior to 1980.
And isn't it an odd quirk of mathematics that if something goes from 10 to 5, then back to 10 again, it went down 50% but had to go up 100%, making it sound twice as hard? Besides, one doesn't invest solely in the Dow 30. Some is in energy funds, some in growth funds, some in large cap funds, some in Pacific Rim funds, some in bond funds. If I were waiting for NASDAQ to hit 4500 again, you'd be right to be skeptical. However, I think I'll be alright with my balanced portfolio in the long term.
I'm 5' 9". Is that short enough?............
-Barack Hussein Obama
Barney Frank lied
401K’s died
I guess that was a dead cat after all.
That's foolish advice. I went to cash in December 2007 and right now is the absolute worst time to go back into equities.
Pay attention to the credit market - not the stock market. You're watching the wrong game - and it will be to your economic peril.
Look for the U.S. government to take a controlling interest in some of our major banks - and close down 600-700 underperforming banks throughout the U.S., possibly over 1,000 if things continue to escalate past that.
Also, look for another coordinated central bank rate cut.
It's all they have left. They're trying to spend their way out of this problem and it won't work.
Buying up banks didn’t work in the 30’s and it won’t work today.
Their only other choice is to inflate their way out of this.............
Germany tried that - and it didn't work out too well for them.
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