Stocks Surge yesterday after USB & LEH shore up their capital and put the credit crisis behind them. Switzerland's largest bank, UBS AG, which had already written down $18 billion in troubled investments, said it expects to add a further $19 billion to that total. But UBS also said it would raise $15 billion in new capital from its shareholders. And, in another move that pleased some investors, UBS said it would replace its chairman.
USB & MER jumped ahead Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEH) raised $4 billion of capital on Tuesday in a preferred stock deal designed to stop questions about the Wall Street investment bank's stability.
Non-farm productivity %change CPI is jumping higher inflation mean lower stock price % change in housing start during depression period Chinese Oil consumption increase steadily since 2000 consumer confidence fall to its lowest level since 1992
My posting is for my own entertainment, do your own DD before pushing your buy/call button
a look of NDX in different time frame current Aug 2004 to June 2007 Jan 2002 to Dec 2004 (2004 pre-election year) Jan 2001 to Dec 2003 Jan 1999 to Dec 2001 (2000 pre-election year) Jan 1997 to Dec 1999
My posting is for my own entertainment, do your own DD before pushing your buy/call button
#msg-31004200 #msg-11379252 market was down one day after a huge overnight lending accepted which occurred at the mid (~15) and the end (~30) of a month
My posting is for my own entertainment, do your own DD before pushing your buy/call button
Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has called the recent turmoil in the global financial markets a "once in a century credit tsunami".
Mr Greenspan's comments come as significant uncertainty remains in global markets, amid fears that key economies have already entered a recession.
Some share markets and currencies have been especially volatile, prompting intervention by governments to prop up banks and boost the financial sector.
Recent developments include:
* Russia has moved to boost its currency in the wake of a sharp slide in oil prices and declines in foreign investments. In the past week gold and foreign reserves are down $15bn (£9.3bn) * French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday mooted setting up a state-run investment fund to help protect national firms and aid small firms in difficulty * Sweden's central bank tried to boost its economy by cutting interest rates by half a percentage point to 3.75% and said it planned to make further cuts within six months * Hungary unexpectedly increased its interest rate by three percentage points to 11.5% on Wednesday in a bid to boost its currency, the forint
Earlier, some Asian indexes saw sharp falls, as investors worried about the prospect of a global recession.
South Korea is one of a number of countries that has recently seen a substantial withdrawal of capital as worried investors take their money out. The phenomenon, which is also affecting others nations including Hungary, Iceland and Pakistan, represents a new and worrying phase of the financial crisis according to the BBC's business editor Robert Peston. He says that we are seeing a massive flight of capital out of economies perceived to have been living beyond their means - either because they have a substantial reliance on foreign borrowings or because they are net importers of good and services, or both. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7687101.stm
The Stock Market Crash of 1987 The stock market crash of 1987 was the largest one day stock market crash in history. The Dow lost 22.6% of its value or $500 billion dollars on October 19 th 1987! In order to understand the crash, we must first study the cause.
1986 and 1987 were banner years for the stock market. These years were an extension of an extremely powerful bull market that started in the summer of 1982. This bull market had been fueled by hostile takeovers, leveraged buyouts and merger mania. Companies were scrambling to raise capital to buy each other out, in essence. The philosophy of the time was that companies would grow exponentially simply by constantly purchasing other companies. In leveraged buyouts, a company would raise massive amounts of capital by selling junk bonds to the public. Junk bonds are simply bonds that have a high risk of loss, so they pay a high interest rate. The money raised by selling junk bonds, would go towards the purchase of the desired company. IPOs were also becoming a commonplace driver of the markets. An IPO is when a company issues stock for the first time. “Microcomputers” were also a top growth industry. People started to view the personal computer as a revolutionary tool that will change our way of life, and create wonderful profit opportunities. The investing public was caught up in a contagious euphoria, similar to that of any other bubble and market crash in history. This euphoria made people, once again, believe that the market would always go up.
1997 Asian Financial Crisis The Asian Financial Crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of Asia beginning in July 1997, and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown (financial contagion). It is also commonly referred to as the IMF crisis.
The crisis started in Thailand with the financial collapse of the Thai baht caused by the decision of the Thai government to float the baht, cutting its peg to the USD, after exhaustive efforts to support it in the face of a severe financial overextension that was in part real estate driven. At the time, Thailand had acquired a burden of foreign debt that made the country effectively bankrupt even before the collapse of its currency. As the crisis spread, most of Southeast Asia and Japan saw slumping currencies, devalued stock markets and other asset prices, and a precipitous rise in private debt.[1]
Though there has been general agreement on the existence of a crisis and its consequences, what is less clear were the causes of the crisis, as well as its scope and resolution. Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand were the countries most affected by the crisis. Hong Kong, Malaysia, Laos and the Philippines were also hurt by the slump. The People's Republic of China, India, Taiwan, Singapore, Brunei and Vietnam were less affected, although all suffered from a loss of demand and confidence throughout the region.
Foreign debt-to-GDP ratios rose from 100% to 167% in the four large ASEAN economies in 1993-96, then shot up beyond 180% during the worst of the crisis. In Korea, the ratios rose from 13-21% and then as high as 40%, while the other Northern NICs (Newly Industrialized Countries) fared much better. Only in Thailand and Korea did debt service-to-exports ratios rise. [2]
Although most of the governments of Asia had seemingly sound fiscal policies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stepped in to initiate a $40 billion program to stabilize the currencies of South Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia, economies particularly hard hit by the crisis. The efforts to stem a global economic crisis did little to stabilize the domestic situation in Indonesia, however. After 30 years in power, President Suharto was forced to step down in May 1998 in the wake of widespread rioting that followed sharp price increases caused by a drastic devaluation of the rupiah. The effects of the crisis lingered through 1998. In the Philippines growth dropped to virtually zero in 1998. Only Singapore and Taiwan proved relatively insulated from the shock, but both suffered serious hits in passing, the former more so due to its size and geographical location between Malaysia and Indonesia. By 1999, however, analysts saw signs that the economies of Asia were beginning to recover.[3] Contents
Stocks tumble, lose 10 percent in 2-day rout after election Stocks suffered a second straight round of steep losses amid new signs that bellwether companies and their customers are struggling. Jittery investors also placed early bets that jobs data due out Friday morning will be bleak.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 443.48 points on Thursday, off 4.9%, at 8695.79, hurt by declines in all 30 of its components. The Dow has fallen 929.49 points, or 9.66%, over the past two days, the biggest percentage drop since the crash of October 1987.
The weakest of the blue chips by far was General Motors, off 13.7%, after the president of its North America unit said that the next 100 days will be vital to the survival of the struggling U.S. auto industry. CHICAGO (Reuters) - Barack Obama will meet his economic team on Friday and hold his first news conference since becoming U.S. president-elect as the country awaited signs of how he might tackle the economic crisis.
Obama, who stands to inherit the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, faced pressure to announce his picks for key economic jobs, including Treasury secretary, though there were no indications of when he might do so.
On Wall Street, stocks closed sharply lower for a second day. The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 443.48 points, or 4.85 percent, after plummeting almost 500 points or about 5 percent on Wednesday -- the biggest fall ever on the day after a presidential election.
Though the timing of the Treasury secretary announcement was uncertain, names being considered for the job included Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers; and former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker.
Summers and Volcker were on the 17-member transition economic advisory board that will meet with Obama on Friday, a statement from the transition office said. Others who will take part in the meeting include Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett and Roger Ferguson, former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve board of governors.
Obama made his first key administration appointment by naming U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, a brash veteran of President Bill Clinton's White House known for his take-no-prisoners style, as his chief of staff.
"I announce this appointment first because the chief of staff is central to the ability of a president and administration to accomplish an agenda," Obama said in a statement. "And no one I know is better at getting things done than Rahm Emanuel."
The choice was quickly criticized by Republicans who accused Obama of reneging on his campaign promise that he would bring change to Washington and reach across the aisle to bridge divides between the parties.
"This is an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil, and govern from the center," House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio said.
But not all Republicans viewed the appointment harshly. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Republican White House candidate John McCain, praised the choice.
"This is a wise choice by President-elect Obama," Graham said. "Rahm knows Capitol Hill and has great political skills. He can be a tough partisan but also understands the need to work together. He is well-suited for the position." http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE4A36V020081107
It's official: U.S. in recession all of 2008 http://wwwdev.nber.org/cycles/dec2008.html (12-01) 19:42 PST -- It took seven economists 11 months to decide what should seem obvious given all the foreclosures, bank failures and layoffs - the United States is officially mired in a recession. Still, Monday's declaration by the National Bureau of Economic Research that the economy has been in retreat since last December sent Wall Street into a bearish fit that knocked nearly 9 percent off the S&P 500 index. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/02/MNTL14FCBU.DTL Does this mean the recession is near the end?
U.S. Job Losses Are the Worst in 30 Years The recession deepened last month as the U.S. shed 533,000 jobs, the fastest rate in more than 30 years, pushing the unemployment rate to 6.7%, its highest level in 15 years. http://dshort.com/
market nice bounce for the last 2 day trade session, but it is behavioring like 8 years ago, more than 50% hair cut from its peak in 2000, history could be repeat here, some rally now but diving into next year, bounce back some with new hope, then dive again I see the strong resistance @1266