It’s Official
Stocks tumbled today after last week’s record setting gains – the greatest since 1932. Today, stocks gave back half of those gains in one day. The confirmation of the recession today gave impetus that it’s real folks – not just news people talking up the negatives of the economy.
Bonds soared today with the 10 Year Treasury going up to highest never seen before – the interest rate of less than 2 3/4%. FED speak made this move this much more dramatic. Here in Austin, Bernanke gave confirmation that the FED would purchase long term Treasuries if needed – wow, what an incentive to buy treasuries.
The rest of the market fell into line with the falling stock prices – the Dollar strengthened, oil and gasoline fell in price, and gold fell. Gold is now a definite “BUY” again as it’s fallen below $800/ounce.
In the news today….
The official body to declare “recessions” has declared this a recession with its start date at December 2007. EconomyGuy readers can be proud that you were the first to know. While I didn’t use all the smart people and the large number of computers to come up with this information, I did tell you that it sure looked like a recession from where I lived.
The FED announced today it would purchase US Treasury bonds to keep the market moving. Think about this statement a minute. The Treasury write a Treasury Note, and it’s purchased by the FED. Where does that money come from? How does it help the economy? When do we get our money back – with interest – as taxpayers?
Here are Yesterday’s numbers:
Dow Jones 30 Industrial – 8149 (down 680 points)
10 Year Treasury Bond – 2.72% (down 0.24%)
Euro – $1.2609
Gold – $777 (down $44)
Oil – $49.28 (down $5.15)
Gasoline – $1.11 (down $0.10)