Dow down over 500...

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

The dow was above my post count and now it's below it...WTF??? What's going on? Mortgage rates are going down..housing prices are going down..Unemployment is rising..the death rate remains steady...wowser..good thing it's almost ski season..

 

[drjeff]

The dow was above my post count and now it's below it...WTF??? What's going on? Mortgage rates are going down..housing prices are going down..Unemployment is rising..the death rate remains steady...wowser..good thing it's almost ski season..

Figure that it took a good 5 or 6 years atleast to screw things up they way they are now, so it's going to take more than just a couple of days to fix this mess

 

[Moe Ghoul]

The dow was above my post count and now it's below it...WTF??? What's going on? Mortgage rates are going down..housing prices are going down..Unemployment is rising..the death rate remains steady...wowser..good thing it's almost ski season..

You're daily average is down, steeze, 500 posts before 4PM should do the trick.

 

[RootDKJ]

perhaps this mess is inversely related to GSS's post count?

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

You're daily average is down, steeze, 500 posts before 4PM should do the trick.

My average on here is over 21 posts per day..and on PASR it's under 18 posts per day..pretty soon I'll have 20k posts over there and 10k on AZ..MSY..Mad Steezy Yo..

 

[ski_resort_observer]

truth is that in the last two weeks the canadian dollar has sunk below par. Yesterday it was worth .83 to a US dollar. Helleva funny cartoon tho.

 

[drjeff]

truth is that in the last two weeks the canadian dollar has sunk below par. Yesterday it was worth .83 to a US dollar. Helleva funny cartoon tho.

That's actually the one "brightspot" lately, the strengthening dollar. Especially since strengthening dollar typically is directly related to a decrease in the cost of oil. And as of the close today, the price of a barrel of oil is down just under 50% off it's peak just over 3 months ago. So atleast if we all still have jobs we'll be able to afford the tank of gas to get us to the hill this winter!

 

[gladerider]

don't see dollar strengthening for long. temporary phenom. we have successfully devalued the dollar so much over the last 4 weeks that there will be a significant pressue to push the dollar down further. you are right that the oil is the reason why, but there are many more factors. lack of liquidity around the world is one and there are signs of deflation, which is another.

rough times ahead my friend...

 

[danny p]

A friend sent me this article written by Warren Buffet which appeared in yesterday's NY times. I thought it was well written and worth posting.

Buy American. I Am.

By WARREN E. BUFFETT
Published: October 16, 2008
THE financial world is a mess, both in the United States and abroad. Its problems, moreover, have been leaking into the general economy, and the leaks are now turning into a gusher. In the near term, unemployment will rise, business activity will falter and headlines will continue to be scary.
So ... I’ve been buying American stocks. This is my personal account I’m talking about, in which I previously owned nothing but United States government bonds. (This description leaves aside my Berkshire Hathaway holdings, which are all committed to philanthropy.) If prices keep looking attractive, my non-Berkshire net worth will soon be 100 percent in United States equities.
Why?
A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. And most certainly, fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors. To be sure, investors are right to be wary of highly leveraged entities or businesses in weak competitive positions. But fears regarding the long-term prosperity of the nation’s many sound companies make no sense. These businesses will indeed suffer earnings hiccups, as they always have. But most major companies will be setting new profit records 5, 10 and 20 years from now.
Let me be clear on one point: I can’t predict the short-term movements of the stock market. I haven’t the faintest idea as to whether stocks will be higher or lower a month — or a year — from now. What is likely, however, is that the market will move higher, perhaps substantially so, well before either sentiment or the economy turns up. So if you wait for the robins, spring will be over.
A little history here: During the Depression, the Dow hit its low, 41, on July 8, 1932. Economic conditions, though, kept deteriorating until Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in March 1933. By that time, the market had already advanced 30 percent. Or think back to the early days of World War II, when things were going badly for the United States in Europe and the Pacific. The market hit bottom in April 1942, well before Allied fortunes turned. Again, in the early 1980s, the time to buy stocks was when inflation raged and the economy was in the tank. In short, bad news is an investor’s best friend. It lets you buy a slice of America’s future at a marked-down price.
Over the long term, the stock market news will be good. In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts; the Depression; a dozen or so recessions and financial panics; oil shocks; a flu epidemic; and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497.
You might think it would have been impossible for an investor to lose money during a century marked by such an extraordinary gain. But some investors did. The hapless ones bought stocks only when they felt comfort in doing so and then proceeded to sell when the headlines made them queasy.
Today people who hold cash equivalents feel comfortable. They shouldn’t. They have opted for a terrible long-term asset, one that pays virtually nothing and is certain to depreciate in value. Indeed, the policies that government will follow in its efforts to alleviate the current crisis will probably prove inflationary and therefore accelerate declines in the real value of cash accounts.
Equities will almost certainly outperform cash over the next decade, probably by a substantial degree. Those investors who cling now to cash are betting they can efficiently time their move away from it later. In waiting for the comfort of good news, they are ignoring Wayne Gretzky’s advice: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.”
I don’t like to opine on the stock market, and again I emphasize that I have no idea what the market will do in the short term. Nevertheless, I’ll follow the lead of a restaurant that opened in an empty bank building and then advertised: “Put your mouth where your money was.” Today my money and my mouth both say equities.

Warren E. Buffett is the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, a diversified holding company.

 

[Marc]

Some of us here on AZ have been saying what the great Buffet said in that piece all throughout this downturn.

Not to be an "I told you so" or anything...

 

[danny p]

Some of us here on AZ have been saying what the great Buffet said in that piece all throughout this downturn.

Not to be an "I told you so" or anything...

Yeah, I figured Warren probably lurks on AZ and stole your ideas for this piece. Bastard.:lol:

 

[Moe Ghoul]

A friend sent me this article written by Warren Buffet which appeared in yesterday's NY times. I thought it was well written and worth posting.

Buffett is past his expiration date and doesn't need to invest "long-term", some folks only have a few years until retirement and don't have the luxury of time or billions to give away. Not to say he is wrong, but he's operating in a completely different stratosphere.