So the markets are now all closed.<\/p>\n
The US dollar gained against the Euro by about 2%.\u00a0\u00a0 US Treasury interest rates continued their plunge.\u00a0\u00a0 Market forces are saying S&P was wrong – or that the market just doesn’t care that in 10 years, the US might be broken beyond repair.<\/p>\n
The US Stock market ended down about 6%.\u00a0\u00a0 My rule of thumb is that the last half hour reflects what the indivdual investors are doing – stock mutual funds have to settle their Net Asset Value (NAV) based on the closing price, so they sell or buy near the close.\u00a0\u00a0 Things definitely picked up momentum down at the close – not a surprise given the cheerleading by the Media rooting for a market crash.\u00a0 Small companies were hit harder (the Russell 2000 was down 8%)<\/p>\n
Oil keeps going down, gold keeps going up.<\/p>\n
Bank of America lost 20% in one day.\u00a0\u00a0 That’s because they admitted their mortgage losses are going to be bigger than they thought.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I wouldn’t be upset if my BoA branch suddenly had a BoNY \/ Mellon sign out front [except they closed the local branch about 4 months ago].\u00a0\u00a0 Banks that were “saved” by the government in 2008 and haven’t dug their way out yet are the ones in the biggest risk.<\/p>\n
The bonds issued by the FDIC were downgraded today.\u00a0\u00a0 They don’t have the cash to “save” Bank of America or any of the other big banks.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae’s bonds were also downgraded since they rely on a promise by the US Government to repay them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So the markets are now all closed. The US dollar gained against the Euro by about 2%.\u00a0\u00a0 US Treasury interest rates continued their plunge.\u00a0\u00a0 Market forces are saying S&P was wrong – or that the market just doesn’t care that … Continue reading