Posted on 05/20/2010 10:08:05 AM PDT by EBH
The euro was weak again early Thursday and, predictably, global stocks followed suit. Japan's Nikkei fell 1.5% overnight, major European bourses were down 1.85% to 3% in recent trading, while U.S. proxies were down 2.5% to 3%.
In recent trading, the Dow was below its 200-day moving average of 10,250, while the S&P 500, Dow Transports, Nasdaq and Russell 2000 were each more than 10% below recent highs, or in official "correction" territory.
Traders watch such technical indicators closely, and concerns about moving averages and the like can become self-fulfilling and generate more selling.
At the same time, the selloff has brought out a rash of "crash" predictions in recent days, including from legendary newsletter writer Richard Russell. In addition, Fortune's Sean Tully compares the current environment to 1987 (pre-crash) and says "investors can, at best, expect extremely low returns in the years ahead."
The fact sentiment has seemingly swung so quickly from "pause to refresh" three weeks ago to "end of the world" today is a positive sign from a contrarian perspective. To wit, veteran market watcher Don Hays titled his report yesterday: "Nouriel [Roubini] is Sounding Good Again, and That is Bullish"
Sentiment is hugely important in the short-term and clearly it has turned sharply negative. Longer-term, the market tends to focus on fundamentals but here too, the naysayers are finding their voice, citing:
* -- The possible disintegration of the euro and general chaos in Europe, where policymakers can't seem to get their act together. * -- Potential for a second-half slowdown in the global economy and renewed weakness in U.S. housing. * -- Deflationary pressures in the developed world, and inflationary pressures in emerging markets. * -- Rioting in Athens, Bangkok and other global capitals. * -- Rising tensions between North and South Korea.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
1:00 pm : The three major indices have breached their 200-day moving averages as market participants continue to dump stocks.
There hasn’t been any headline to account for this session’s slide. Rather, market participants have become increasingly risk averse in recent weeks, so their selling has only begotten more selling.
A near complete lack of support for stocks has left 98% of the names in the S&P 500 to trade with losses.
http://finance.yahoo.com/marketupdate/overview?u
This is a great argument in favor of terraforming and colonization of Mars and other places...
If Earth gets bad enough then we LEAVE THE WHOLE DAMN PLANET!
Said only partly in jest...
Fat fingers again, nothing to see here...
The German Mark is the currency in Germany (DE, DEU). The German Mark is also known as Deutschmark, and Deutsche Mark. The exchange rate for the German Mark was last updated on May 7, 2010 from The International Monetary Fund. The DEM conversion factor has 6 significant digits.
http://coinmill.com/DEM_EUR.html#DEM=2
hmmmmmmm......the Euro is not long for this world.
Crash and burn, Mav.
The journey to Dow 4000-5000 has begun.
Uh, no. I welcome a collapse that is blamed squarely on the dems. I want to see 0bamunists suffer--long and hard.
Nice find. That’s amazing.
Zerohedge reporting that both TD Ameritrade and RBS have gone dark.
Its what the Germans got in writing from the EU prior to consenting to the Greek Deal..
So does this mean Germany now has two official currencies? EU an DM?
Thanks. I’m worried for my kids.
Td Ameritrade still comes up with account data
You can pray all you want, but socialism/communism never has worked, and never will work.
I worried for the young ones too.
One is a Marine, his wife, and two toddlers. My nephew and great niece and nephew.
None of this was what we ever want for the next generation.
Proverbs 13:22
Huh!
They left off the Iceland volcano and how it has the potential to disrupt worldwide food production...not to mention flying.
I sold stocks for the first time today, just coincidentally because I needed some money for a down payment on a house.
Bought 20 yrs ago and never sold til today. . .
I got out after 15 years on Nov. 5th, 2008.
When I got up that morning to see who was elected to run the country....
2:00 pm : The stock market’s bounce off of its session low has lost momentum. In turn, the Dow and S&P 500 continue to trade with losses well past 2%, while the Nasdaq is still down more than 3%.
Losses are even sharper among small-cap stocks. As such, the Russell 2000 is down 4.2%. Within the Small-Cap Index, fewer than 3% of the components have managed to put together a gain. New York & Co. (NWY 3.98, -1.32) is atop the list of declining issues; the company posted a quarterly loss that was in-line with Wall Street’s consensus, but the stock was subsequently hit by an analyst downgrade. Shares of NWY have lost roughly one quarter of their market cap in this session alone. DJ30 -278.11 NASDAQ -76.28 SP500 -32.73 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 180/2.05 bln/2533 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 126/1.14 bln/2997
http://finance.yahoo.com/marketupdate/overview?u
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