Posted on 01/21/2008 9:50:32 AM PST by mojito
Equities sank on Monday, tracking sharp losses across Asia, after financial stocks seen as being exposed to the bond insurance market were stung.
By the close in London, the main European indices were . The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 5.1 per cent to 1,288.80, Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax shed 6.7 per cent to 6,825.63 . The CAC 40 in Paris lost 5.8 per cent to 4,798.66, and London’s FTSE 100 sagged 4.6 per cent 5,633.8. These were the worst one-day falls since September 11, 2001.
The Eurofirst 300 and the CAC 40 were in technical bear-market territory, having fallen more than 20 per cent since their 2007 peaks.
The losses in Europe followed heavy falls in Asia as investors gave US President George W. Bush’s stimulus package a lukewarm response. In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 tumbled 3.9 per cent to a 27-month low of 13,325.94. It has lost a quarter of its value in the past six months.
”Equity markets greeted the news [of the stimulus package] with a resounding thud,” said Sue Trinh at RBC Capital Markets.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 5.5 per cent to 23,818.86, while Australian stocks extended their losing streak to 11 straight sessions.
Stock markets were also struggling for direction because US markets are closed for a national holiday on Monday, but US equity index futures were sold off steeply.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
The FED Chairman best pull that 100 basis-point lever rather early...
Is it wrong for me to think it’s hilarious that markets are dropping world wide as the end result of unrelenting stupidity?
I’m not too worried about it, since I’m in for the long haul on the retirement side. On the investment side, there’ll be some good bargains.
I just hope the baby boomers were smart as they got older and moved their retirement plans into safer investment vehicles.
NO, not to the ignorant...
Carolyn
Whose stupidity are you finding hilarious? Stock investors, people that are riding a downturn out, those that never sold “at the top”, or yourself for not being an investor?
I have been investing since 1977. Moving money out during or in anticipation of a correction only means you have to make an even harder decision as to when to put it back in....
Me, I just let it ride...
My husband had a lot of stock options in his company, and for awhile we’ve been trying to figure out when to sell. In November, it went up very high after an earnings report. We didn’t sell then because my husband wanted to talk to a tax guy.
The stock dropped for awhile, and then went up to a new high, and we sold all of his vested options.
Literally, a week after we sold, the stock market started dropping, and his stock went from $60/share to $31/share.
I think God was looking after us. Our daughter had a grand mal seizure in October, and she has now been diagnosed with a seizure disorder. We’ve been having this medical drama, but God has just looked after us financially. We don’t have to worry about pay for extra therapies my daughter might need. I can still stay at home. We can just watch this financial roller coaster on the sidelines.
Wow a six % selloff would hurt.
720 points!!!
When you are trying to get people to vote democrat, this kind of journalism works.
Carolyn
Very glad to hear of your escape. All the best with your daughter.
Dow futures closed today at -520 (4.2%). S&P -4.8%. We should take out the post-9/11 Dow drop of 671 points, at least until Bernake drops his bomb. Then if the market still drops, start making plans for a Clinton dictatorship.
Hey thanks a lot companies pushing sub-prime loans...
Hey thanks a lot people who didn’t calculate what the highest payment could be and figure if they could pay it or not...
Hey thanks a lot people who waste money on buying junk and excessiveness that left them not being able to make their payments...
Hey thanks a lot people who didn’t save & put away money into extended Emergency Funds...
Even though I moved quite a bit into Stable, I still lost a TON because of you. Thanks a lot.
At least NY is closed. Commodities are down substantially.
But then maybe not.
Remember when we used to have threads on FR arguing about whether or not there was a Housing Bubble?
Historical periods of intelligence are kind of scarce and usually follow periods of unrelenting stupidity that result in total disaster. < /historical law mode >
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