Bad things are happening today

[Tab]

Around the world, investors are selling off stocks as fast as they can and fleeing to the relative safety of bonds, or cash stuffed into a comically bulging safe. This means that everyone is very, very nervous about the “health” of the global economy. Futures indicate that the U.S. stock market will have a very shitty day today.

Oil dropped again from its already rock bottom prices. Futures are showing it will fall to the lowest price it’s seen since 2003.

European stocks dropped 4%. Which is a lot! In particular, European banks are now doing even worse than they were during the 2008 financial crisis.

The US dollar is also plunging! It is “on course for its worst week since the Lehman crisis.” I’m sensing a pattern...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-11/no-respite-for-s-p-500-as-u-s-stock-futures-join-global-selloff
http://gawker.com/uh-oh-bad-things-are-happening-1758468022

[Nye Bevan]

1. Anyone else old enough to remember when low oil prices were considered a good thing? (nt)

[Deuce]

5. Yep...

[KansDem]

8. Hell, I'm old enough to remember "gas wars"

Gas stations competing on the corners of an intersection would occasionally lower their prices a few cents in an attempt to offer the lowest price. This friendly competition would result in lower gasoline prices for a week or two, much to the delight of motorists.

I can remember gas as low as 27 cents a gallon. I remember thinking at the time that gas would never be higher than 36 cents a gallon! I don't know how I came up with that figure--just that 36 cents seemed like a lot of money for a gallon of gasoline.

Of course, this was before the oil embargoes and gas lines.

[bemildred]

2. Indeed, vast sums of "personal wealth" are evaporating. nt

[el_bryanto]

3. Yes - along with of course retirement accounts, publicly invested monies

various charitable organizations that have investments and the like.

Bryant

[bemildred]

4. Poof. nt

[el_bryanto]

11. Nice. You understand there are real consequences to that money going away, right?

Not just for the super rich.

Bryant

[bemildred]

15. I don't know any super rich. nt

[el_bryanto]

16. OK - let me explain this very simply so you can understand

Some of the people who are going to lose money are the super rich.

Others are local governments, retirement plans, charitable organizations.

When the super rich lose money, I don't blame you for not caring.

When Local Governments lose money they have to lay off people, cut benefits, make employees work longer hours to cover additional jobs, freeze wages and the like. When retirement plans lose money they have to cut benefits or find some other ways to make up the losses. When charitable organizations lose money they have to curtail their efforts. You should care about that.

I hope that was simple enough for you to understand.

Bryant

[bemildred]

17. I may be able to figure it out, let me study it for a while and get back to you. nt

[Bettie]

9. The market always rebounds

if you don't lock in your losses by reallocating every time there is a downturn.

Ultimately, unless you need those funds immediately, the investment will probably rebound before too long and over the course of years, will increase.

[el_bryanto]

10. It would be nice if that was what would happen

But the losses incurred by those funds of ten do have to be drawn down; Local Governments for example have to pay their bills every month, not just when the market is up. Same with Retirement plans.

More to the point you have to take into account the parasitical practices of some on Wall Street, particularly the Investment Banks and the High Frequency Traders, both of which get a cut, whether the market is up or down.

Bryant

[Bettie]

12. Oh, the market

is horribly fucked up.

And it is being used as a vehicle for fast money which was not the intent of its creation.

But, for your average 401K holder, the trend is upward, if you don't lock those losses in by reallocating every time the market coughs.

I believe we should have a small tax on transactions, which would clear some of the high frequency traders out and stabilize it somewhat.

Of course, I also believe that 401Ks are a scam created by Wall Street and corporations to keep people from ever being able to fully retire, and of course, to keep them in fee income forever.

[closeupready]

6. Not worried. I don't need it anytime soon, and the market always comes back.

I'm betting on those two things.

[LiberalArkie]

7. This is why the super rich want more money. If a person with 30 billion looses half they

still have 15 billion. If a person with 50,000 looses half, well...

[Sunlei]

13. yes, but I noticed online, some online bank CDs pay 2% and some stocks continue to rise.

I have a tiny nest egg in stocks, I do the buy/sell 'game' myself and can make about 4% but it takes a lot of time to 'do it yourself'. I have never done oil stocks or gold stocks & I don't want to spend the money to pay an Agent. Its to late for people to dump oil stocks but I guess they can sell them and take the loss deduction

If I had gold stocks or coins, I'd sell them right away. IMO that market is artificially inflated and will crash soon.

That's just my opinion and I have no training except I did make about 4% on my nest egg of stocks & that's a lot better then any personal bank savings or CD.

[MagickMuffin]

14. K&R Off to the Greatest

Thx for the info!

[rug]

18. Chickens. Home. Roost.