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Stocks: An Unhappy Anniversary

Posted by: Ben Steverman on October 08

Thursday marks a rather depressing anniversary. On Oct. 9, 2007, major U.S. stock indexes closed at an all-time high. The broad S&P 500 index closed at 1,565.15. Today — on Oct. 8, 2008 — the S&P 500 closed at 984.94.

That’s a 37% drop in one year.

Even more sobering, from this point the S&P 500 would need to post a 59% gain to re-attain record levels.

In retrospect, the stock market’s peak last October looks bizarre. Problems in the credit market became apparent to fixed income investors in July 2007. While the full extent of the crisis wasn’t yet known, many experts were already very worried — and those credit market participants have remained pessimistic ever since.

Equity investors were far more optimistic at the start of the crisis.
While stock markets showed some concern in August 2007, by September many said the subprime crisis was probably “contained” and the market hit new highs in October. How wrong they were.

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Reader Comments

cliffyworld

October 9, 2008 11:55 PM

Please read related article titled: "It's Not Always The Pork. The Cows All Have To Be Fed Too." at http://www.cliffyworld.com/blogs

GeraldD

October 10, 2008 01:47 PM

Our Democratic Leaders In Congress Struck The Match, Set The Fire, Fanned the Flames And Simply Fiddled As Our

Economy Burned To The Ground. And Now They Are Conspiring To Shift The Blame And Avoid Jail Time With A Carefully

Crafted Cover Up Of Their Wrong Doing.

And One Of Them Is Even Set To Be Our Next Attorney General If You Can Believe It!

The Major Players Included Jamie Goerlick, Franklin Raines, Daniel Mudd, and Jim Johnson. They are at the heart of

this meltdown.

They Were Aided By Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Chuck Schummer, Henry Waxman, Maxine Waters, Artur Davis, Gregory

Meeks, Lacy Clay, Harry Reid, John Kerry, Barrack Obama, and Nancy Pelosi. Money Flowed Like Water, And Their

Influence Built The Cover Up.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs

All Of These people owe the American People an explanation, an apology, and certainly some jail time. Don't take

your eye off of the ball. These are the people who lit the match and fanned the flames. One Of The Major Players,

Jamie Goerlick is Even Set to be our next attorney General. We simply CAN'T let this happen or Each And Every One Of

Them will Simply go free.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=67068

And You Can't Dismiss Acorns Involvement In The Melt Down. Obama Was Their Lawyer And helped ACORN sue banks to

force them to make questionable loans. This helped to lead to the United States Taxpayer being on the hook, and the

loss of huge amounts of their 401K and their home prices. Obama And Acorn Also Put Pressure On The Democrats In

Congress To Let Fannie Mae Run Wild. Now ACORN Is Trying To Steal THe Election By Voter Fraud In Battleground

States.


http://www.onenewsnow.com/Blog/Default.aspx?id=279960

Remember These Democrats When You Look At Your Retirement Accounts, Or When You Look At Your Declining House

Prices. And Remember These Democrats When You Think About All The People Who Will Lose Their Job. And Please Tell

Your Friends And Neighbors What These Democrats Have Done! They Deserve To Know The Truth About What Caused It.

The Main Stream Press Certainly Doesn't Intend To Do That.

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Businessweek’s Lauren Young, Aaron Pressman, Emily Thornton, Amy Feldman, Ben Levisohn, and Ben Steverman focus on matters great and small for investors, from the views of a hot fund manager to an explanation of the latest products devised by Wall Street’s rocket scientists. Exploring trends in any area, from bonds and stocks to closed-end funds and futures, always with an eye towards giving investors a better understanding of the sometimes confusing and often chaotic world of finance. Standard & Poor’s senior index analyst Howard Silverblatt will also provide his take on companies’ finances and the markets. Voted one of the “Top 100 Finance Blogs” in 2007.

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