Posted on 08/11/2011 6:21:19 AM PDT by Second Amendment First
The stock market's steep declines have not only produced daily gyrations and heightened volatility, but they have also shocked some of Wall Street's longest-tenured veterans.
Chaotic trading has sent major stock indexes down by double-digit percentages in only a matter of weeks, as investors continue to fret about the state of the global economy, European debt troubles and a U.S. debt-ceiling standoff and credit-rating downgrade.
Tuesday's action was a microcosm of how nervous markets have become. After the Federal Reserve's newly downbeat assessment of the U.S. economy, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rapidly dropped as much as 206 points. Just as quickly, the market rebounded on hopes that the central bank will employ additional stimulative measures. All in all, the Dow had surged in the final trading hour, finished up 430 points and crossed zero 32 times during the day.
"I've been lucky enough to be in this business over 50 years and have seen lots of things, from the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Kennedy assassination to the Crash of '87 and the 2008 meltdown," Art Cashin, director of floor operations at UBS Financial Services, wrote in his morning note Wednesday. "Still, [Tuesday] was rather special. One of the most frenetic and bizarre trading sessions that I can recall."
Stock-market veterans have been flabbergasted by the speed at which markets have slumped. As of Monday's close, the Dow's tumble over the 11 sessions dating back to July 22 amounted to 15%. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell 17% over the same timespan. This week, the Dow has seen three consecutive 400-point moves and the Nasdaq has had three straight 100-point moves.
"The volatility is beyond anything you can comprehend," said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners, who has been employed on Wall Street since 1987.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Expect 9000 when all is said and done - which is much more representative of where business is today: sitting on mounds of cash but not growing at all. Remove Barry and install some certainty, then maybe we can start moving back towards 12,000.
Anyone involved in commerce knows Obama wants the US downgraded. But he didn’t do it by himself in this short of time. Monday is the 40th anniversary of Bretton Woods.
Yet polls show the anointed one running neck-and-neck with Romney (the most likely GOP candidate) although his (0bummer;s) approval rating hovers around 40%.
The carter recession was a cake walk compared to the zer0 recession.
one thing is certain. There is some huge money moving this market, so large that it’s able to move the Dow hundreds of points in minutes.
Not to worry. CNBC is working hard this morning to promote normalcy. They kind of remind me of someone.......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NNOrp_83RU
I think you mean “overbought”.
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