Stocks Sink to '04 Lows on Security Fears

[boobooday]

Security fears! Welcome to the new world Chaos, brought to you by BushCo.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&ncid=749&e=1&u=/nm/bs_nm/markets_stocks_dc

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks slid to new lows for 2004 on Monday as Israel's killing of a key member of the militant group Hamas fed global security fears and prompted a broad decline.



http://www.wgoeshome.com

[54anickel]

1. So far the futures for tomorrow aren't looking to bright either -

http://money.cnn.com/markets/morning_call/

[54anickel]

2. Ewww, and there's that "inflation" word again -

Commodity prices jumped to their highest level in almost 23 years, fueling investor fears about inflation and the prospect of a Federal Reserve (news - web sites) interest-rate hike. The Commodity Research Bureau index (^CRB - news) rose to the highest level since March 31, 1981. Commodities listed in the index include gold, corn, soybeans and crude oil.

"Inflation could be a problem sooner than anticipated and that means the Fed may have to raise rates sooner than what the market is suggesting," said Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst at SW Bach and Co.

[osaMABUSh]

3. When the Dow slips under 10,000 and gas hits $2.00 we'll

have everybody's attention.

And Bush will talking about how the Iraq War makes the world safer.

[Skittles]

4. I have a question

when stocks sink, how do they KNOW what the real cause is? Are they just guessing?

[54anickel]

5. JMHO - Yes, most of the time it's an assumption.

[Zynx]

6. No one ever knows.

There are simply correlations of events and news and they make their best guess. However, sometimes stocks act exactly the opposite of how you would expect them to given a certain bit of news.

[Skittles]

8. it's just that they present the "causes" as fact

the word surmise is not used.

[tom_paine]

7. Isnt it funny how there always has to be a reason?

These Business Articles, at least 90% of the time, are bullshit.

"Security Fears". How could they delve into the minds of the investors who sold today or those who bought for that matter?

Just a story to make it seem like someone knows what's going on. Ritualized dance that's been going on for so long, the stories have to be written and the "explanation du jour" made.

Kind of laughable and harmless, I suppose.

[54anickel]

9. Yep, sometimes it appears they go fishing for a headline to fit the move

just an assumption on their part. There's so much "intricate stuff" that moves the markets. They can't really let you know all that's moving it or the sport of fleecing would be over. :evilgrin:

[kysrsoze]

12. Security fears could sum up a couple of days' activity

but not an extended 5 week in a row loss trend for the Dow (8 weeks for the NASDAQ). I believe we're in what's called 'stagflation.' Prices of everything are up, the dollar is weaker and the jobs outlook is terrible.

There no longer is anything to push stock prices up after everyone has refinanced multiple times and spent his/her precious tax rebates. The economy has been propped up and last year's run-up was speculative. Time for a correction (if not something more significant).

[leesa]

10. Security fears? How bout the fact that the Bush admin is sinking the US

ship. Think that might be causing stock jitters?

[54anickel]

11. Related story - more on inflation and rate hike

US SWAPS-Security fears, rate rally pushes spreads lower

http://www.forbes.com/markets/bonds/newswire/2004/03/22/rtr1307850.html

snip>
Traders said the drop in yields may have made mortgage
portfolios nervous that rates could keep sliding lower, and so
they hedged by receiving fixed-rates in swaps.

snip>
One trader at a European investment bank said the market
was "still fighting" the low inflation story and the idea that
the Fed could be on hold through the end of the year, if not
longer.

"The market doesn't want to believe it," the trader said,
especially with commodity prices still soaring. The Reuters CRB
index <.CRB> of commodities hit its highest level since 1981 on
Monday.

snip>
With Treasury yields low, corporate debt sales picked up
again this week after last week's record $23 billion of
issuance. However, most companies are looking to keep their
debt at fixed rates in anticipation of an eventual rate rise,
rather than swapping it to short-term floating rates