Posted By:
AnonymousThis thread is like a train wreck-not pretty but I just can't turn away.
The 400 point up day and today's 300 point Dow loss were completely different markets. Financials sold off late last week into early this week and bounced hard after the Fed cut rates. They were pretty flat today. The bulk of the losses today were in commodities, oil, gold and overseas markets. The loss today was largely in reaction to an increase in the margin requirements for futures trading. Investors had to sell to reduce exposure to bring their accounts in compliance. We'll see what today's price movements do to hedge funds with leveraged commodity plays, ouch.
No one can predict short term market movements, Jeff, but Charlie is correct when he points out that the market is a leading indicator. It will rally and reflect the eventual recovery well before the actual recovery is obvious or in the news and it will be going up when we reach a fundamental bottom.