Today the Dow closed at its lowest point in five years and at one point was down 800 points before closing down about 370 points. This is after the $700 billion bailout.
When I last wrote about the bailout, I ended my article by saying it had damn well better work. Sounds like that might not be the case. True, only one day of trading is not anything to really make judgements based around, but I had been under the impression that once we passed the bailout bill, things might stabilize and the market would cool down. This appears, at least so far, to not be the case.
So assuming the bailout fails to make a difference, what’s next? What can be next? Aside from nationalizing the entire economy, I’m starting to think the only option might be to just sit back and let the chips fall where they may. At least then Wall Street can get this out of their systems and move along.
Either way, I have a feeling that we’re just starting to feel the pain.
October 7, 2008 at 1:07 am
The sad thing is I knew the market would close down today because the bill passed. The market is screwy like that. It goes up and up and up on rumors the bill will pass. So bill passes and those people who bought in on the rumors cash out
Anyway I’m amazed it was down that far though but recovering as much as it did could be a good sign. Silver lining though, oil is below $90/bbl and I was just starting to see $2.999/g signs in Kansas City on Saturday. Anyhoo what will happen tomorrow? I’m selling my crystal ball and buying gas.
October 7, 2008 at 2:59 am
The stock market is not a reflection of the economy, it goes up and down. I’m not saying the economy isn’t in bad shape, it is (and throwing money at it will not salve the underlying problems) but you can’t use the stock market to see how good or bad the economy is doing.