Posted on 03/16/2008 7:34:49 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
I’m sure at higher headquarters it seemed like a good idea at the time.
The Chinese are in a pickle of their own making.
While it is quite true, looking back, that you wanted to buy in the face of doom, and sell in the face of euphoria, you can't tell (unless you're a better forecaster than most of us) whether this is the week of doom in which to buy or not. I'll wager when the DJIA was down 20% in December of 1929, or whenever that happened then, that folks were gloomy. When was it that the DJIA finally bottomed - August 1932?
Don't try to catch falling Guillotines until after you hear the solid thunk of the blade hitting bottom.
It is too early to be buying. The market has much further to drop yet.
Actually it’s sort of built in circuit breaker, every day. Probably is actually helpful on a day like today. Gets a circuit-breaker’s benefit, without a circuit-breaker’s chief downside which is signalling market panic.
Yes but they always have a mid-day break. Nothing unusual or new or panic-driven there.
“The Chinese are in a pickle of their own making.”
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Seems to this poster, we’re sharing that pickle with the Chinese.
They’re eating one end. We’re eating the other. *chomp*. Factories head to China. *chomp* Walmart profits up. *chomp* China builds nuclear weapons and submarines with our trade dollars. *chomp* we both suddenly look:
It’s almost gone.
Now what?...
We won’t see DJII 8000 tomorrow, no way, not that much in one day. The PPT (which officially met today BTW) is there to make sure that people with foresight don’t get rich quick. We will see DJII 8000 before it’s all over, but not before late summer.
I read something similar and that the unravelling will probably begin with Ireland.
This will throw the whole world into chaos. Propaganda won’t cut it this time. Holy week is going to be a real rough ride. Hold on.
Today’s rate cut was the “discount rate” which is different than the “federal funds rate” on Tuesday.
The media will blame blame blame blame Bush, and they will be half right. Every “incumbant” will share the blame for the collapse of the economy.
The fear right now is that if the American financial institutions start to fail, it will take Europe and eastern Asia with it because they too have a huge amount of money invested in the USA. The prospect of the world's currencies going back to a combined gold/silver standard won't be so far-fetched anymore.
Just one more big reason we should have kept the $ on a gold standard. Thanks you asshole politicians.
Frankly the $2/share purchase price, and even then only with a guaranteed loan from the Fed, says to me that:
1) The real market price of Bear was $0 — nobody wanted it, period; and
2) The Fed put really, really heavy pressure on JPM to buy it. Not force, but really, really heavy pressure, while still letting JPM set the price. The only reason JPM didn’t do an ING-Barings style purchase — i.e. a token $1 paid for the whole company — was for just the reason you stated: it would have spooked the markets way too much and left JPM wishing it had paid $2/share. However, I suspect JPM thought this all through, and decided that paying $30+/share actually would not bring them out ahead.
Merrill Lynch CEO said today or yesterday that he believes the worst of the credit crunch to be behind us. He said that troubles would most likely continue for 6-9 months, but that the worst is over.
Of course the three banks reporting this week will all report bad numbers, but I'm going to see what their bias is for the future.
I think it may be time to start nibbling at some of these companies. Wachovia, Bank of America are others which might be good buys for the long haul (Wachovia is paying over 9% dividend to boot).
Also, the internet is not going anywhere. If one is afraid of financials one might consider a stock like Cisco when the dust from this week settles. Most are saying tech will hold up well regardless and Cisco has indeed held up surprisingly well over the last few dismal weeks. Cisco is a great company and its CEO John Chambers is solid. All the best.
Just think, less than a year ago, BSC was $159/sh. Amazing.
True. Apologies.
But that's ALSO going up and probably not by a lousy 25 basis points.
I stand corrected
Godspeed
Consider the source... Merrill Lynch is on the "Watch List" (as was Bear Sterns)!
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