Stocks in deepest funk 'in 30 years'

National Post ^ | June 8, 2002 | Steve Maich

[patriciaruth]

I think the market will stay sick until we take out Saddam.

[sarcasm]

Also see:

Markets braced for more turmoil:Friday's eight-month low is just the start

[backhoe]

My fast- and irreverant- take on this?

We're paying the price for tolerating "the decade of frauds" that preceeded this era. It will eventually shake out.

[sarcasm]

I just wonder how long it will take. I'm sure that there are a number of frauds yet to be uncovered.

[sarcasm]

From what I have read, there are indications that he was also defrauding Tyco.

[tired&retired]

As a retired CPA who previously did audits of big corporations and prepared the SEC filings, let me say that I always found that a quick view of the petty cash, and expense account expenditures of the CEO and CFO were very good indications as to the credibility of the rest of the information they were providing. Many times they would get mad and say that these small transactions were not material in comparison to the millions of dollars in the financials. Credibility is the key.

[FreedomPoster]

I really like that! A quick way to determine the character of management, character of course being "what you do when no one's looking." I'll have to tell my (tax, not audit) CPA wife about that one.

[philman_36]

Playing the stock market.
Playing the ponies at the track.
Not much difference IMO.

[THX 1138]

It will eventually shake out.

I'd give it about two years.

[The Duke]

So, have P/E ratios now become reasonable, or is there a need for additional slippage?

The reality is that the stock market became one big game of musical chairs, and now that the music has stopped and the scramble for chairs is over, everybody left standing has a big frown on their face (and probably wants Uncle Same to somehow start the music back up).

[waterstraat]

The government is doing nothing to stop immigration into this country. Therefore, who knows how many new terrorists are coming in each week. It is only a matter of time before another bombing or something else expodes in this country. Worse yet, it is possible that an immigrant might set off a nuclear explosion. If a nuclear exposion goes off, or if Hoover dam is destroyed, then todays stock prices will collapse, stock prices will drop at least 90% from current levels. You have no idea how low stock prices could go if something like that happens. To buy now, or even to own any stocks, while we are letting in thousands of new terrorists accross our borders, is crazy.

Worrying about future terrorist activity is not off the wall anymore, it has already happened, and we are faciliting more such incidents. It is a very real, and very likely threat.

Why buy now, when you could buy stocks at half the current prices when the next building gets blown up?

If stock prices did recover, it would only be a matter of time before the next terrorst activity sends them crashing again.

No rational reason to buy stocks until we close our borders.

[PGalt]

The stock market is an entity unto itself, musical chairs with money.

[Huck]

If all your doing is playing, then I guess it is the same as going to the track. It seems people pay a disproportionate amount of attention to the markets as a whole--the Nasdq and the Dow--and not enough time is spent looking at actual companies. It is my understanding that almost all of Friday's losses on the DOW were the result of one company, Intel. OK. We're not buying a lot of computers right now. The ones we have still work. What of it? There are winners out there. Just not in the chipmaking business.

Look at some of these:

AHR, AXM, EDF, HCM, HGT, CARS

But do you hear folks talking about companies actually making money? No. Why not? I suspect it takes too much work to actually look into companies, and much less work to "squawk" about the Dow or the Nasdaq. But hey, what do I know?

By the way, I don't own any of those stocks. I am still too much of a moron to buy stocks. But I am trying to get my act together.

[Sungirl]

My company lost 17 million dollars the last year and a half...software computer company..I'm supposed to be layed off next week along with 20% of other employees. AND...there are little jobs out there....it's choice for employers.

WHen are the jobs going to come back!!

[philman_36]

You took what I said wrong. I equate both as gambling.
You look into the horse, check out it's win/loss record, see who the owner and trainer are, bloodlines, etc., etc.
Some pony players go to great depths before placing their bet.
And some horses still never even show, much less place or win, yet folks put good money down on a horse they believe has a chance to win.
IMO, not much difference between the two.
Just my POV.

[cgbg]

I am trying to get my act together.

OK, here is my tip on how to decide when to get into the market.

Call the large broker of your choice. Ask them what stocks they are currently recommending.

If they say "Stay out of stocks, they are all losers. Put your money in a money market account." then is the time to take the plunge in the stock market!

If they start peddling stocks then run away!

[patriot_wes]

Since December I've had a three-fold increase in the number of people who want to know about investing in real estate, which in many areas is appreciating at 10-30% a year. Everyone figures the stock market is in idle for a long time to come.

[FITZ]

The stock market is an entity unto itself, musical chairs with money.

That's what it seems like to me. How many people can take out their money before the whole thing collapses because all that money isn't really there?