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Anyone with 401k's, stocks, investments better pay attention to the carnage out there.
I don't have any advice other than to say losses are relative, thinking things will go back up is usually true but the time frame could be longer than you'd like.
LONDON - Stocks fell sharply worldwide Monday following declines on Wall Street last week amid investor pessimism over the U.S. government's stimulus plan to prevent a recession.
U.S. markets were closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but the downbeat mood from last week's market declines there circled through Europe, Asia and the Americas. Britain's benchmark FTSE-100 slumped 5.5 percent to 5,578.20, France's CAC-40 Index tumbled 6.8 percent to 4,744.15, and Germany's blue-chip DAX 30 plunged 7.2 percent to 6,790.19.
In Asia, India's benchmark stock index tumbled 7.4 percent, while Hong Kong's blue-chip Hang Seng index plummeted 5.5 percent to 23,818.86, its biggest percentage drop since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Canadian stocks fell as well, with the S&P/TSX composite index on the Toronto Stock Exchange down 4 percent in early afternoon trading. In Brazil, stocks plunged 6.9 percent on the main index of Sao Paulo's Bovespa exchange.
Investors dumped shares because they were skeptical that an economic stimulus plan President Bush announced Friday would shore up the economy that has been battered by problems in its housing and credit markets. The plan, which requires approval by Congress, calls for about $145 billion worth of tax relief to encourage consumer spending.
"We've taken our lead from the Asian markets who have not been impressed by the U.S. There's debate if there's going to be a recession in the U.S. I don't think there's much chance of that though," said Richard Hunter an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers Ltd. in London.
Concerns about the outlook for the U.S. economy, a major export market for Asian companies, has sent the region's markets sliding in 2008. Just last Wednesday, the Hang Seng index sank 5.4 percent.
"It's another horrible day," said Francis Lun, a general manager at Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong. "Today it's because of disappointment that the U.S. stimulus (package) is too little, too late and investors feel it won't help the economy recover."
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index slid 3.9 percent to close at 13,325.94 points, its lowest close in more than two years. China's Shanghai Composite index plunged 5.1 percent, partly on worries about mainland Chinese banks' exposure to risky U.S. mortgage investments.
"People are certainly nervous about a potential recession in the U.S. spilling over to the rest of the world," said David Cohen, Director of Asian Economic Forecasting at Action Economics in Singapore.
"Maybe there's still some wariness about politicians are able to come up with a compromise and act sufficiently quickly" on a stimulus package, Cohen said. "I think the impact would be marginal anyway."
Investors took cues from the negative reaction to the president's plan on Wall Street on Friday, when the Dow Jones industrial average slid 0.5 percent to 12,099.30, bringing its loss for the year so far to nearly 9 percent.
Traders also have shrugged off assurances from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the U.S. central bank is ready to act aggressively — which means a likely big interest rate cut later this month — to help the sagging economy.
Some analysts predict that Asia won't suffer dramatically from a U.S. recession because increased trade and investment within Asia has made the region less reliant on the United States than in the past. Excluding Japan, 43 percent of Asia's exports go to other nations in the region, Lehman Brothers calculates, up from 37 percent in 1995.
But on Monday, uncertainty and pessimism reigned.
In Tokyo trading, exporters got hit hard, partly because of the yen's recent strength against the dollar. Toyota Motor Corp. lost 3.3 percent and Honda Motor Co. sank 3.4 percent.
Shares of Bank of China dropped 6.4 percent in Hong Kong after the South China Morning Post newspaper reported that the bank is expected to announce a "significant write-down" in U.S. subprime mortgage securities, citing unidentified sources. In Shanghai, the bank's stock declined 4.1 percent.
India's the benchmark Sensex index fell 1,353 points, or 7.4 percent — its second-biggest percentage drop ever — to 17,605.35 points. At one point, it was down nearly 11 percent.
The decline hit companies across the board, with power utility Reliance Energy Ltd. falling 16.4 percent. Major software company Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. slid 7.6 percent
"A gloomy U.S. climate has affected the global markets. Even if those markets recover, it will take sometime for the recovery to reach India because today's fall has been so drastic," said Jayant Pai, of the Mumbai investment company IL&FS Ltd.
Still, Pai and others suggested that the declines could lead to a buying opportunity.
"The sell-off today takes us close to the bottom," she said.
Since the start of the year, Japan's Nikkei index has declined 13 percent, while Hong Kong's blue-chip index is down more than 14 percent. Even China's Shanghai index — which nearly doubled last year — has fallen 6.6 percent over the same period and nearly 20 percent from its all-time closing high on Oct. 16.[/quote]
Beware of people calling bottoms...
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__________________
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
~Abraham Lincoln Lyceum Address
Last edited by conraddobler; January 21st, 2008 at 10:25 AM.
I'm here... And, as I've been consistently saying, the speeding bullet is falling to earth...
And I by no means would be so stupid as to call a bottom - however, I would say that if you are not buying equities on a systemic basis (dollar cost averaging), I do think you're missing a very nice opportunity... It shoudl come as no surprise that I remain very, very bullish over the long term. And since I'm 43, my horizon extends out over the next 20 years and beyond...
Hey - times are definitely tough... Why should this be a surprise to anyone? Did anyone really believe that our record-setting pace of growth (which was actually a global phenomenon) would never slow?
I would add that all of this talk about "raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations", and "ending the Bush Tax Cuts" does as much harm to the markets - on a global basis - as any other dynamic...
Much ado about nothing. Dollar cost averaging folks. You should be buying your azzes off during this downturn no matter how long it lasts. Im going to up My deferred comp during this. WOOHOO!
__________________
“They said the road comes through Seattle. We came through here and took care of business.” Anquan Boldin
Last edited by Shane H; January 21st, 2008 at 11:16 AM.
May the lord have mercy on your holdings because I do not think the market will.
__________________
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
Whatever your philosophy, the current perception of the economy tanking is killing a Republican presidential possibility. Even the "surge is working" rhetoric that could potentially help them is being muffled out. It seems the "Party of Ideas" is without one when it comes to this issue. Sad times for the elephants...sad times.
Holy Crap! "Sad time for the Elephants?" How about sad times for Americans. This isn't partisan politics--it's the friggin' economy!
No shyte.
Could you be more juvenile and disingenuous?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Heucrazy
Just a quick question for the "chicken little's" when it comes to the economy: How many of you are in construction?
Because there is so much building going on right now that nobody can keep up with the amount of work out there. There is more new construction going on right now then in the last ten years. And for that to happen there has to be an economy strong enough to drive it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Heucrazy
I just got my house appraised and it has gone UP in value by $25,000 in the past year. You know the same past year were the sky fell according to some of you Chicken Little's.
Oh and I just got a bonus from work. Slow crippling economy and all.
And I don't see what you are trying to get at. The partisan politics of the Democrats trying to accuse Republicans as the destroyers of this nations economy are useless propoganda.
So you proved what? That 5 months ago I thought the Demo's were lying about the economy and today I still think it shouldn't be about partisan politics? Ohh good job. You really got me there.
__________________ "I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy".
Last edited by Heucrazy; January 21st, 2008 at 01:00 PM.
Whatever your philosophy, the current perception of the economy tanking is killing a Republican presidential possibility. Even the "surge is working" rhetoric that could potentially help them is being muffled out. It seems the "Party of Ideas" is without one when it comes to this issue. Sad times for the elephants...sad times.
I know... I know... You were trumpeting this ignorance 3, 4 & 5 years ago too, right??
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