Richard

Posts tagged with "stock market"

Yesterday was depressing? Weeellll...

Thursday, 20. November 2008, 21:35:39

S&P 500, stock market

Now the S&P 500 is back at 1997 levels. Makes for two very pretty mole hills in the graph.

15 comments

Today's Depressing Chart

Thursday, 20. November 2008, 02:25:46

S&P 500, corporate arrogance, car industry, stock market

S&P 500 over one year.

I have to say I am getting inoculated to these ructions, probably a form of financial shell-shock.

Meanwhile, the chief reason for today's tumble, the U.S. car industry, did not convince Congress to give them a hand-out. At least not today. One reason why the chief executives may have failed to present their cases in a truly effective way is described by Dana Milbank here.

...the chief executives of the Big Three automakers opted to fly their company jets to the capital for their hearings this week before the Senate and House -- an ill-timed display of corporate excess for a trio of executives begging for an additional $25 billion from the public trough this week.

"There's a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hands," Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.) advised the pampered executives at a hearing yesterday. "It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high-hat and tuxedo. . . . I mean, couldn't you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here?"

It's hard to avoid the conclusion that entitlement and arrogance are so deeply embedded in the executive culture of this country that nothing short of a clean sweep is in order. Back to the pioneer spirit, I say.

3 comments

Oh, this is ridiculous

Thursday, 9. October 2008, 20:16:56

crisis, panic, stock market

Dow 8,579.19 -678.91 (-7.33%)
Nasdaq 1,645.12 -95.21 (-5.47%)
S&P 500 909.95 -74.99 (-7.61%)

Another massive fall in the markets today, and no doubt the business pages will be full of reasons from liquidating hedge funds, and/or massive shorting and/or mass consumer panic etc., but these recent huge falls are becoming divorced from all economic reality, credit seizure notwithstanding. I shall be putting in a 'buy' order tonight.

18 comments

Black Monday

Monday, 29. September 2008, 19:14:48

stock market, house vote, economy, disaster

BAILOUT REJECTED
House Votes ‘No,’ 228-205; Stocks Plunge

Dow 10,569.74 -573.39 (-5.15%)
Nasdaq 2,041.38 -141.96 (-6.50%)
S&P 500 1,132.87 -80.14 (-6.61%)

at 3.07 p.m. Eastern Time.

The S&P 500's decline of of 7.2% at its low is the largest intraday decline since the week following Black Monday in 1987.

If, as seems increasingly likely, we are in for an economic crunch equivalent to that of the Great Depression, today is going into the history books.

Come on, Government - govern!

UPDATE 3.26 pm. ET

Dow 10,433.86 -709.27 (-6.37%)
Nasdaq 2,009.61 -173.73 (-7.96%)
S&P 500 1,115.27 -97.74 (-8.06%)

2nd UPDATE - closing

Dow 10,365.45 -777.68 (-6.98%)
Nasdaq 1,983.73 -199.61 (-9.14%)
S&P 500 1,106.92 -106.09 (-8.75%)

20 comments

It got worse

Thursday, 18. September 2008, 01:46:25

finance, economy, money, hard times ...

Bailout Fails to Stem Global Stock Slump
Dow Falls by More Than 440 Points in Jittery Trading

To be expected, really. We're in a new and uncertain world built on shifting perceptions and confidences, and it seems like the rule book has been tossed out of the window.

Funny thing is, apart from being unnerved by this money market failure, I feel relatively optimistic about the long term prospects. I have certainly felt more optimistic in the past, but I sense what we are seeing here is much needed consolidation as the air whooshes out of the bubble. Banking businesses are either going to go out of business, be bought or merged, and in a year's time the big finance companies on Wall Street will be quite different from what we see today.

Necessary, I feel. The most necessary thing right now is the realistic valuation of all these dreadful mortgage-derived assets, and that's starting to happen by default as Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy in particular flushes out a true market price.

Yes, masses of money is going to be lost, but the house will cleaned. At least, until the next generation of greedy and so-clever-they-are-stupid financiers takes charge again. Hopefully that will be long enough into my retirement that I will not care at that point!

3 comments

Smoke and mirrors revealed?

Wednesday, 7. May 2008, 21:16:10

stock market, SEC, money

SEC to Make Banks Reveal Capital, Liquidity Levels

The stock market, particularly financial companies, took a dive today, and I wonder how much of that was due today's announcement by the SEC.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will require investment banks to disclose their capital and liquidity levels after the agency was criticized for regulatory failings in the wake of the Bear Stearns Cos. collapse.

As it clear by now from the ructions of the past year, financial institutions have been playing a shell game with the mortgage industry. This ruling should force even more nasties into the limelight - although I suspect that a legion of corporate lawyers are working right now to set up yet another dodge.

No comments

Batten Down The Hatches

Monday, 17. March 2008, 02:42:40

economy, Bear Stearns, stock market

JPMorgan Chase Buys Bear Stearns for $240 Million

That's $2 a share. On Friday it closed at $30 a share after losing half its value that day. What's more, the Federal Reserve is acting a backstop for J.P. Morgan by guaranteeing much of Bear Stearns toxic mortgage-related debt.

It could well be a Black Monday on Wall Street tomorrow. This transaction indicates that the market values U.S. mortgage-backed securities as next to worthless, and Bears Stearns is not the only company holding such paper. The house of cards has fallen.

7 comments