Transparent Government?
Stocks moved sideways all day – except the last hour when it went straight down – ending down 224 points. Stocks are down to where they can easily test their recent lows again. If they break through, the bottom is way down there somewhere. Bonds moved up (decreased interest rates) with the vaporizing sentiment about the US economy.
The Dollar and Gold went sideways today.
Oil and gasoline continued their downward spiral – driven by Japan’s announcement of poor growth (negative). Maybe they’ll start paying us to get gas at a gas station sometime in the future.
In the news today…..
Coming to a city near you. Citigroup will be laying off 53,000 people.
Japan is officially in a recession with a decline in its 3Q GDP of –0.4%. The Euro zone countries are also in an official recession. Amazing how when the US sneezes (and what a sneeze), the rest of the world catch’s a cold.
The G20 meeting happened this last weekend. What a bust. Nothing came out of this meeting, other than a great meal, lots of back slapping, and posturing. They did agree to do everything they could do to keep the world out of a recession. Saying anything else would have been tantamount to declaring war.
Is our Government Transparent????
President George W. Bush underscored how dire the economic crisis has become when he told world leaders that he had agreed to a $700 billion rescue plan for financial institutions only after he’d learned the U.S. was at risk of sinking into a “depression greater than the Great Depression.”
This is the first time I’ve seen an official statement that the credit crunch (if allowed to happen) would have caused a depressions worse than the Great Depression. Why can’t the government just be straight with us?
Here are Yesterday’s numbers:
Dow Jones 30 Industrial – 8274 (down 224 points)
10 Year Treasury Bond – 3.68% (down 0.07%)
Euro – $1.2648
Gold – $742 (down $1)
Oil – $54.95 (down $2.09)
Gasoline – $1.17 (down $0.06)