Dow falls 167 points as oil prices spike (Mideast war sinks my retirement account!)

Philly Inquirer ^ | July 13 06 | Christopher Wang

[freedomdefender]

Stocks plunged for a second straight session yesterday as Wall Street battled a storm of negative factors - soaring oil prices, interest-rate jitters, and a slowing economy. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped almost 167 points, bringing its two-day loss to 288.

Escalating tension in the Middle East carried oil near $77 a barrel, which compounded worries over Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.'s warning that higher lending rates and gasoline prices would likely pressure consumer spending at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. SAP AG rattled investors further after reporting weak software sales last quarter.

Many on Wall Street feared that the day's headlines signaled a worst-case scenario. Continued gains in energy prices could prompt the Federal Reserve to keep raising interest rates to contain inflation, but a recent spate of downbeat earnings news suggested that economic growth was already moderating. Investors fear that higher rates in a cooling economy could lead to a recession.

[freedomdefender]

All the freepers who are cheering over the Middle East war -- I have to figure they are government employees or government retirees with secure pensions. Either that, or they live off of bonds and inherited money. For those people who aren't that lucky (myself included), war in the Middle East is bad news, not good news. Sky-high oil and gas prices are bad news, not good news. Recession is bad news, not good news. But hey, that's just me - - I like having a job and like being able to feed my family. For others, having a good rip-roaring war takes a higher priority.

[Toby06]

How's BP doing? much more and I'll be able to retire soon.

[freedomdefender]

Last time middle east war led to high oil - early 70s. We had stagflation in the US as a result. Lot of people lost their jobs. But hey - not big deal as long as we've got a good rip-roaring war to cheer about!

(Of course, a recession could cause GOP to lose Congress this fall, but that's not important compared to having a blazing war in the Middle East)

[freedomdefender]

How's BP doing? much more and I'll be able to retire soon.


I don't know. I guess you're right - invest in oil. That's the ticket.

[Axhandle]

You should have bought into Schlumberger when it was $59.50/share, like I did! Woo hoo! Keep up the bombing Israel!

[Alberta's Child]

The high price of oil in the 1970s was a result of U.S. dollar inflation, not a cause of it. And the stagnant economic growth was not a result of the high price of oil, but the result of U.S. government actions (i.e., price controls) that were supposed to "fix" the problem.

[Uriah_lost]

Yeah, Carter's economic mismanagement had nothing to do with it....

[i_dont_chat]

What a self-centered rant!

Look what 9/11 did to our economy. If terrorism (Islamic Fascism) isn't stopped, we could lose a lot more than our plush "retirement."

Suck it up and pray that Israel is successful in killing the Hezbollah leadership. Nations must wake up to the dangers facing freedom-loving and civil people.

[ghostrider]

Your retirement fund will drop a lot more if those terrorist bastards set off a WMD here in the USA. If we cleanup the mess over there, your retirement fund could eventually go through the roof. Don't be so short sighted, and quit listening to the DNC spin. We have been in a world war for many years. It is been escalating steadily, and it will escalate much more when Iran develops a nuke to go on the North Korean Missiles.

[bruinbirdman]

"Dow falls 167 points . . . "

Down 167 Thursday. Down 106.94 today, Friday.

yitbos

[Naplm]

So your investments over the short term are more important than the future security of the western world?

[Alberta's Child]

Unless you are retiring next week and have all of your assets invested in U.S. stocks, the performance of the U.S. stock market this week is basically meaningless.

[RegulatorCountry]

Well, on the "bright" side, this is going to cause a downward spike in mortgage rates, so a "soft landing" for residential real estate becomes more likely.

[Rockitz]

There are numerous short mututal funds offered by Pro Funds and Rydex that will turn that frown into a smile. Oil and Gold have been sparkling as well.

[John Lenin]

Sell now! ijiot

[NeoCaveman]

Well, on the "bright" side, this is going to cause a downward spike in mortgage rates, so a "soft landing" for residential real estate becomes more likely.

It figures. I locked my rate in last week on the new mortgage.

[PureTrouble]

Stop loss or stop limit trade tools are good to limit loss of your price of stock to a percent or dollar amount drop. You should check into those tools.

Sounds like you are trying to invest without using a good source of information about the market and what it is doing.

The source I use told me 2 days ago to take profits and go to cash. Made a nice return around 10 percent in 2 weeks.

[RegulatorCountry]

Rates in the 6 - 7% range for a 30 year conventional are still very attractive, from a historical perspective. So, I wouldn't kick myself too hard. There's not so much room to fall as there was back in 02; I sincerely doubt we'll be seeing low fives again anytime soon.

[bruinbirdman]

"Hindsight alone is not wisdom, and second-guessing is not a strategy."

yitbos

[AmericanRepublican]

Thank the tech warriors and look on the bright side:
http://www.techwarrior.co.uk/?ac=vid&vid=37025743

At least crude oil is up... :)