Economy
No market bottom in sight
I had plans to write a stock review today, but the current market conditions make that seem a little foolish. I sit here watching the stock market continue to crash, pulling down all stocks, regardless of value or prospects. At this point I see no reason to sell my stock holdings as the horse has [...]
Probably not the end of the world
Don’t call it a bailout - MarketWatch.
I sit here this morning watching the stock markets continue to fall on fears about the financial system. I have been wondering why the problems in the financials have spread so strongly to other sectors where many companies are in good financial shape and continue to grow their businesses. [...]
Foreign markets take off, U.S. to follow
I write this a few hours before the U.S. markets open, but it looks like the rest of the world is relieved by the Fed’s takeover of Fannie and Freddie. From the early news, markets worldwide are up 3-5%. News on the BBC has the London Stock Exchange suspending trading due to a computer glitch. [...]
Fannie and Freddie: 80%+ dilution
A quick look through the Treasury plan to take over and prop up Fannie Mae (FNM: 0.82 +0.09 +12.33%) and Freddie Mac (FRE: 0.82 +0.09 +12.33%) show that although common and preferred shareholders will not be completely wiped out, their holdings will be seriously devalued and diluted:
First, dividend payments on both the common and preferred [...]
On sectors, ETFs and individual stocks
Over the course of this very difficult year in the stock market there have always been some sectors that continued to perform positively. For the first 6 months of 2008 commodity based investments performed extremely well: energy and fertilizer stocks come to mind. Foreign currencies, U.S. companies with big exports and precious metals did well [...]
