At 08:31 AM 6/16/2002 -0400, Bob wrote: >Basically it's the 100 largest stocks on the NASDAQ. It recently went >below it's Sept. '01 lows. This is big big news that I doubt the mass >media has said anything about. But I don't know. I don't pay too much >attention to them. When I do, I find it astounding the mindless >Enquirer human interest type stuff they call news. Whether it's >ABC, NBC or the front page of the Boston Globe. > >http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quickchart/quickchart.asp?symb=qqq&sid=&o_symb=qqq&freq=1&time=8&x=33&y=13 > >Indirectly bullish for the precious metals.
Yes, but only indirectly. Much of the available funds searching for a new home have gone either into foreign stocks (mostly Japanese and European) or real estate. The irrational exuberance phase should obviously be over, but the market is still not fully corrected. If I've learned anything from my own investing its that only a disciplined approach works to stave off the emotion that can cause one to go off cliffs with the mob. One of those disciplines is attention to the historic P/E ratios and what underlies them. Historically the P/Es of well managed companies were in the mid-teens, now many are almost double. I can think of no reason for such a differential except continued irrationality on the part of un-savvy investors. More troubling still is the asset base of these high flyers. Until the '90s most company assets were 'hard' and tangible", with IP and goodwill making up only 20 or so percent. Now many company balance sheets contain 50% or more intangible assets. As we have seen goodwill can evaporate in a heartbeat hollowing out the balance sheets of these companies. Too rich and risky for my blood. Of course Wall Street's accounting practices are no where near as big a scam as the gov't's own off sheet account practices. A big time bomb may be brewing over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Both have used account sleight of hand to mask the quality of their assets and risk management techniques. Currently they are shield from SEC enquiry. If they come under real scrutiny then watch out economy. steve --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
