Look out Below!
Ugly day today -- Dow off 280 to 12,500 as I type this, the Nasdaq down 2.5%. The natural process of washing out excesses will lead to gnashing of teeth and begging for the Fed to intervene. (After all, isn't it the role of the Fed to backstop speculators?)
My opinion: those people who only believe in free market so long as they are going higher aren't capitalists, they are socialists.
Here are a few of today's headlines :
Wall Street to Fed: Cut rates now!
Why Give the Fed the Benefit of the Doubt?
Stocks in U.S. Tumble on Citigroup Earnings, Unexpected Retail-Sales Drop
Creative destruction, baby!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008 | 03:12 PM | Permalink
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I guess all the bearish sentiment was not yet priced into the market like bulls have been saying ... LOL. Here are the next round of roaches that common sense knew would arrive.
Now, if only the bulls could figure out how to engineer a one minute recession and flash in the pan bear markets. Then, and only then, would something in the business cycle truly be different this time ...
Posted by: D H | Jan 15, 2008 3:17:29 PM
ECB warns crashing dollar may stop Fed cuts
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/01/14/bcnfedcut114.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox
This headline is an alternate view from the other side of the atlantic
Posted by: CCIE | Jan 15, 2008 3:22:26 PM
Love the smell of margin calls in the morning... At least it is an orderly meltdown.
Fed in a box. You want fries with that?
Seriously, I hope the system is allowed to cleanse itself for a change.
Posted by: Ross | Jan 15, 2008 3:22:40 PM
So we get a rate cut, the dollar tanks, and gas gets more expensive. Again.
This is different from the 70s how?
Oh yeah, in the 70s we had savings....
Oops.
Posted by: donna | Jan 15, 2008 3:25:06 PM
Let the games begin!
Posted by: boomer | Jan 15, 2008 3:36:57 PM
games indeed. Here come the much expected hail mary pass from the unknown quarter back hiding behind the goal post. Oh, forgot, no such thing.
Posted by: Stuart | Jan 15, 2008 3:38:38 PM
"those people who only believe in free market so long as they are going higher aren't capitalists, they are socialists."
Only a socialist would say that! (snark)
Hey Barry. How ya been my friend....
How's the neo-con troll count these days?
Posted by: brion | Jan 15, 2008 3:44:20 PM
Donna gets it. Having been in the Biz back in the stone age 70's, the only thing that seemed to work were hard assets. The kind that when dropped, hurts your foot.
Posted by: Ross | Jan 15, 2008 3:46:17 PM
My opinion: those people who only believe in free market so long as they are going higher aren't capitalists, they are socialists.
As a socialist, I find this comment offensive. You are describing corporatists. They are similar to socialists in some ways (they want the government to intervene in the market), but differ in what goals the government should have. Corporatists want the government to provide handouts to corporations and rich people, socialists want the government to provide handouts to people who would otherwise starve or be homeless. Socialists don't care about what happens in the stock market. Socialists and corporatists are at opposite ends of the political spectrum.
Posted by: jkw | Jan 15, 2008 3:51:24 PM
Well, the Labour Party UK has an official platform of "democratic socialism" so are you saying Tony Blair is cheering on our stock market decline?
(Or maybe he's short the market...)
Posted by: Bob Morris | Jan 15, 2008 3:57:41 PM
jkw, if socialists don't care what happens in the stockmarket then why does michael moore have a large stock portfolio that includes halliburton among its holdings?
Posted by: Bill | Jan 15, 2008 4:01:52 PM
Not that I like the market here BUT can we at least wait until the S+P breaks down under the August intraday low around 1370 before we start declaring victory...
that being said if you look at almost all of the individual retail names...the CRASH is well under way...
Posted by: SINGER | Jan 15, 2008 4:02:55 PM
Now that the bear market is with us, does anyone think it's just a coincidence we haven't heard from Fred or Nova Law in months?
Posted by: Pool Shark | Jan 15, 2008 4:11:22 PM
Pool Shark:
Isn't Nova Law the one that was always trying to rip on MS? He wanted to compare portfolio sizes?
Posted by: Joe Klein's conscience | Jan 15, 2008 4:20:49 PM
Wow. It's true! When they raid the whorehouse, they even take the piano player.
Posted by: Ross | Jan 15, 2008 4:22:59 PM
Oh where or where has my little dog gone? There it is the "whole Dow," is a dog... How big of a dead cat do we get now?
Posted by: Justin | Jan 15, 2008 4:25:14 PM
>> Socialists and corporatists are at opposite ends of the political spectrum.
This would absolutely be true unless one were to consider Socialist Government to be nothing more than Centrally Planned Business. Just a different group with a different name whos ultimate goal is essentially the same.
Posted by: Stormrunner | Jan 15, 2008 4:25:23 PM
Hey Bill, did you also know that Michael Moore is fat??
Posted by: Whammer | Jan 15, 2008 4:26:52 PM
there's been a sea change when william buckley starts calling for the government to effectively nationalize the mortgage market.
The politics of the matter are at least this clear. The federal government being the only agent that can possibly intervene, it needs to do so, by forbidding the liquidation of mortgages until the disparity between true value and hypothetical value is pounded away by time and inflation — and a revitalization of the functions of the marketplace.
someone might instruct mr. buckley on the difference between a liquidity event that exemplifies a fear-driven departure from sanity -- and a solvency event that exemplifies a fear-driven return to sanity.
Posted by: gaius marius | Jan 15, 2008 4:29:20 PM
What's particularly disturbing is that the market is tanking with the expectation of a 50 to 100 bp cut in ff rate. That's supposed to be the good news. Ouch!
There's still "pundits" out there talking about the probability of a recession. Yeah....! Thing's are looking good, real good.
Best regards,
Econolicious
Posted by: ECONOMISTA NON GRATA | Jan 15, 2008 4:29:42 PM
Joe Klein's conscience,
Right, and Fred was the perma-bull who was always touting the strength of the U.S. economy.
/they're probably off somewhere licking their wounds...
Posted by: Pool Shark | Jan 15, 2008 4:33:35 PM
And the dollar is rallying today.... go figure. More of the same.
Intel is terrible. Tomorrow a.m. could be the precipice.
Posted by: Stuart | Jan 15, 2008 4:34:15 PM
20 bucks Benny reams the shorts in a.m.
It's bad enough to have to battle a bear but to also have to battle an adversarial FED is ridiculous.
Posted by: BenHatesShorts | Jan 15, 2008 4:44:57 PM
is it me or are you short something?
Posted by: amused | Jan 15, 2008 4:45:27 PM
"My opinion: those people who only believe in free market so long as they are going higher aren't capitalists, they are socialists."
Agreed.
Posted by: Keith Shepard | Jan 15, 2008 4:46:27 PM
