Happy Birthday, Zero!
Update: Dow dropped 512 points at the close. You can’t get through to the CNN/Money article because their server is overloaded, but it updates with the latest bad news.
Your friends on Wall Street sent you a message: Dow free falls 400 points
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Poof! There goes any progress stocks made in 2011.
Stocks plunged Thursday, with the Dow tumbling 400 points to hit its lowest level since December, as global economic fears gripped the market.
U.S. markets were already sharply lower on widespread worries, including the weak job market. But the selling gained momentum as Japanese and European policymakers stepped in with dramatic measures to shore up their financial markets.
There’s “total fear” in the market, said Bob Doll, chief equity strategist at the world’s largest money manager, BlackRock.
…Meanwhile, it should come as no surprise that in the U.S., investors flocked to assets perceived as low-risk, including U.S. Treasuries and gold.
Treasury prices rose, pushing the yield on the 10-year note down to 2.48% from 2.6% late Wednesday, and gold futures for December delivery fell $8.70 to $1,657.70 an ounce. Earlier in the session, gold hit a record high of $1,684.70 an ounce.
In other commodities, oil prices slumped more than 5% to $89.90 a barrel.
And the Europeans send their best wishes: Global stock markets slump on eurozone debt fears
Global shares have dropped sharply for the second day as fears about the eurozone debt crisis intensified.
New York’s Dow Jones index was trading more than 3% down, while Frankfurt’s Dax and London’s FTSE 100 indexes closed almost 3.5% lower.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso’s warning that the sovereign debt crisis is spreading spooked the markets.
Meanwhile, the price of gold hit a new record high of $1,677 an ounce.
More weak jobs data from the US also raised concerns about the strength of the economic recovery there.
Oh, yes, tax cuts and austerity are certainly working their magic, doing the same damn thing they did after the 1936 election when FDR screwed up and tried to lower deficits. But don’t let the knowledge that we have been through all this before and know what works and what doesn’t interfere with your belief-based failed policies.
5 comments
Well, after today, I really hope that all countries outside the USA realise now what a bunch of total moronic a-holes run the USA and cut all ties ASAP. Seriously.
$50bn lost in ‘bloodbath’ on local market
Of course, that’s not likely to happen because most other countries are also run by moronic ass-kissing a’holes.
I had a joker yesterday tell me he worries about us being attacked by aliens (the space kind, not Mexicans). I said that firstly, if that’s all he’s got to worry about right now, he’s either a clueless moron, or extremely lucky. And secondly, it will never happen unless the Aliens are as stupid as us, in which case they would never have been able to have interstellar space travel. Assuming there are really intelligent space-traveling aliens, and assuming they did want our little dirt-ball, all they have to do is stay safe in their ships and watch with great amusement while we do the job for them. They wouldn’t have to make any effort at all. And if the race is very warlike, they still wouldn’t bother because we’d be no challenge at all. Maybe they’d just *nuke* us and be done with it. I can hope.
This current debacle proves to me beyond a doubt that the entire world is primarily inhabited by total morons.
This current debacle proves to me beyond a doubt that the entire world is primarily inhabited by total morons.
Yep. Large brains aren’t that good a survival mechanism beyond a certain point, so humanity hasn’t really selected for intelligence, but, rather, for craftiness, cunning, and viciousness. Explains a few things, eh?
– Badtux the Misanthropic Penguin
Well, the conservative troika of Cameron, Sarkozy, & Merkel are running a close second to the US on the moronic policy front. They too are trying to protect and cover up the misdeeds of their banks.
Well, ‘craftiness, cunning, and viciousness’ are certainly more useful than intelligent planning when hunting. It would appear that a lot of gene lines missed the switched to settlements and agriculture.
Actually, Merkel’s conservatism only extends to *other* nations, not to her own. Look at this series (total government expenditures, from the official German government statistics web site):
2007: 1.017T
2008: 1.056T
2009: 1.126T
2010: 1.127T
Okay, so the growth of government spending flattened out in 2010, but then, their economy also grew at a 3.6% pace in 2010, so there was no longer any need to increase government spending. But it’s clear that Merkel believes in austerity for OTHER people, not for Germans.
– Badtux the Snarky Numbers Penguin
That would be because other people owe ‘her banks’ money, and must be made to suffer for being poor and/or not German.