Posted on 10/30/2009 6:52:52 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Wall Street fear gauge jumps to July levels
By Laura Mandaro, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- An options index known as Wall Street's fear gauge surged Friday to a nearly four-month high, as a fresh round of worries about the sustainability of recent months' rally surfaced.
The CBOE's Volatility Index (INDEX:VIX) gained 24% to 30.69 by the exchange's close, its highest closing level since July 8.
For the index, which uses options contracts based on the S&P 500 Index (INDEX:SPX) to measure market expectations of near-term volatility, it was the biggest percentage gain since late 2008, near the peak of the financial crisis.
The VIX typically rises as stocks tumble, as occurred Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX:INDU) closed 250 points lower -- its worst day since April 20 -- for a 2.5% loss. The S&P 500 fell 2.8%
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
Ping!
I guess Wall Street has had enough of the pretenders in the White House.
buy on fear, sell on hope?
Or the Plunge Protection Team ran out of TARP money.
It’s over Baby. The transports are telling the tale. I got out this week putting my 401K equities into the Merrill Lynch Preservation Trust Fund. (I’m a Transport kind of guy so what I experience from my own observation on the front line from my office on 18 wheels, tells me IT’s OVER ! Gold, food storage, ammo, whatever floats your survival boat.
In the mean time, I’ll still transport your four-ply ass wipe to the rail head until the mobs storm the truck and I have to mow them down. The months ahead will be a challenge. Are you ready? Well are you?
The market today is largely pumped with Rat money. There is no clear limit to that now that the Bummer holds office.
Rat money, or Repubic dollars, it’s all in a precarious state and the succors are about to be fleeced. It used to be the October surprise but since the Grand Experiment took office, the Earth has slowed and the October surprise has been delayed until Black Friday in November.
An old rule of thumb held that for a rally to be a real turnaround you had to have the Dow Industrials, Utilities, and Transportation Indexes all showing bullish. We are nowhere near that now. I think we have a bear market rally acting all toppy and probably tipping. This last uptick to the mid ten K's may have been the middle point on the W of the W-shaped "recovery."
If so, prepare to dive!
Yes ! My company’s stock (a well-known and respected transport) has dived over 4 bucks in the past two weeks reflecting the continued slow-down in demand. I laugh everytime I hear the top of the hour radio news saying economists think the recession is over because the cash for clunkers program stimulated sales resulting in a 3.4% increase in GDP. The Govt will try to gloss over any news that may make their untenable position more favorable and the MSM will eat it up as they have been doing this week.
The rail hubs are half-empty of intermodal freight shipments at a time of year when truckers are their busiest making deliveries to Wal-Mart, Dillards, Kohls, Marshalls, K-Mart, and on and on. The false reports that the economy is turning around are nothing more than government mouthpieces WISHING AND HOPING AND HOPING AND WISHING. (Thanks Dusty Springfield for your inspirational lyrics) I’ve been trucking for a major since 1988 that is heavy into intermodal freight hauling and all I can say at this point is that things are NOT looking great. Truckers don’t get layed-off but the day is coming that some of us may actually say that we were “victims” of Obama’s “War on Capitalism” (I just hate being a victim, it’s sooo gauche)Out of curiosity, are you still seeing this?
You 'aint seen nothin' yet. Guns. Ammo. Gas. Gold. Cash. Sat Phone. Faraday cage. Medicines. Food. Escape plan via local road. Be prepared.
More like, “Buy on Hope, get left with Change!” ;)
They already know that Oct's number are piss poor, why?; because they have the tax revenue receipts.
Those within 'the circle' have been given that info and that's why the hard retreat in the markets yesterday with the brokers also knowing that 0 prefers golfing over being a responsible leader and that the socializiation of health care is forced upon us by Polesuki and Co.
Look for a economic black market to develop quickly here in the USamongst private citizens.
Yes, in fact, it get worse by the week.
Thanks. I can't say how domestic economic activity is affecting trucking activity, but the number of containers coming in from abroad is way down (shown in the following graphic), year-to-year. Seasonality (i.e. the Christmas bulge) still exists, but every single month is down, year-to-year. Sales tax collections, on a state-by-state basis, are down every single month this year vs last year, which is why every single state is having a major fiscal crisis.
Thanks Zhang, I was looking for just such a graph.
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