The higher Barack Obama soars - The lower the stock market dives = direct relationship
On Oct 25, 9:07 am, "\"Lone Wolf\"" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > U.S. Stocks Plunge, S&P 500 Heads for Worst Month Since 1938 > > By Nick Baker > > Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks tumbled this week, driving the > Standard & Poor’s 500 Index toward the steepest monthly loss since > 1938, on concern the global economy is sliding into a recession. > > Alcoa Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. retreated the most > in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, losing more than 18 percent, as > investors bet the financial crisis spread beyond banks to industrial > companies and computer makers. General Motors Corp. approached the > lowest price since the 1950s, and Ford Motor Co. plunged 17 percent. > > “There are forced sellers and no one willing to stick their neck out,” > said Henry Herrmann, Overland Park, Kansas-based president of Waddell > & Reed Financial Inc., which manages $70 billion. > > The S&P 500 retreated 6.8 percent to 876.77, the lowest level since > April 2003. The benchmark index for U.S. equities plunged 25 percent > in October. The Dow average fell 5.4 percent to 8,378.95 this week. > The MSCI World Index of 23 developed markets lost 8.3 percent, while > Brazil, Russia and India drove a gauge of 25 emerging markets to a 17 > percent slump. > > More than $10 trillion has been erased from the market value of shares > worldwide this month as earnings decrease. The 236 companies in the > S&P 500 that have reported third-quarter results posted a 23 percent > decline on average. Reports yesterday showed the U.K. economy > contracted for the first time since 1992 and growth in South Korea was > the slowest in four years. > > Every Market Falls > > All 48 of the developed and emerging markets tracked by MSCI have > declined in 2008, with 22 losing at least half their value. The 73 > percent plunge by Russia’s Micex Index is the steepest. Benchmark > indexes for China, Greece, Ireland, Peru and Austria retreated more > than 60 percent. The S&P 500 dropped 40 percent. Morocco and Jordan > have done the best, falling 6.4 percent and 19.2 percent, > respectively. > > It’s “panic creating a freefall as investors simply liquidate anything > and everything,” said Walter Gerasimowicz, the New York-based chief > executive officer at Meditron Asset Management, which manages $1.1 > billion. “The market seems to be very overdone, almost pricing for a > depression.” > > The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, a gauge > of how much investors are paying for insurance against S&P 500 > declines, rose 13 percent to a record 79.13 this week. > > Treasuries rallied, pushing the yield on the 30-year bond to the > lowest in more than three decades. It sank as low as 3.8676 percent > yesterday. > > ‘Very, Very Cheap’ > > “The U.S. and European markets have blown out to record levels of > attractiveness versus bonds,” Barton Biggs, a former Morgan Stanley > strategist who now runs the hedge fund Traxis Partners LLC, said > during a Bloomberg Television interview. Stocks are at “very, very > cheap levels.” > > This week, 245 of the 500 companies that make up the S&P 500 dropped > to the lowest price in a year or more. Russian equities are the > cheapest in the world, trading for 2.5 times estimated 2008 profit. > The 27 nations with price-to-earnings ratios of 8 or less include > Germany, Turkey, South Africa, the U.K. and Indonesia. The S&P 500’s > multiple is 11. > > “There is an extreme level of pessimism and almost despair,” said > Biggs, 75. “As long as I have been in the business, those have always > been good signs.” > > Alcoa fell 20 percent to a 13-year low of $9.41. Citigroup lost 18 > percent to $12.14, the lowest price since October 1996. Hewlett- > Packard declined 18 percent to $32.44. GM decreased 7.5 percent to > $5.95, remaining above the five-decade low of $4.76 reached two weeks > ago. Ford slipped 17 percent to $2.01. > > REITs, Consumer Stocks Drop > > Producers of metals, chemicals and other raw materials lost the most > among 10 industries in the S&P 500, falling 11.1 percent as a group. > Financial institutions declined 10.5 percent. > > All 24 of the smaller S&P 500 industry groups slumped, led by real- > estate investment trusts. General Growth Properties Inc., a Chicago- > based mall developer, plunged 65 percent to $2.17 after the Wall > Street Journal reported it may sell up to $2 billion in preferred > stock. Developers Diversified Realty Corp., which owns shopping > centers, lost 51 percent to $8.08. > > Producers of consumer goods retreated. Liz Claiborne Inc., the maker > of Kate Spade handbags, fell 33 percent to $6.95. Nike Inc., the > world’s largest athletic-shoe company, slumped 17 percent to $47.79. > Whirlpool Corp., the biggest appliance maker, dropped 20 percent to > $49.16. > > To contact the reporter on this story: Nick Baker in New York at > [EMAIL PROTECTED] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
