Op-Ed Friday: Always Darkest Before the Dawn

Doom just loves the MSM. Yesterday investors were lining up to jump off the Sears Tower …

CHICAGO, Oct 16 (Reuters) – Wall Street’s favorite measure of investor fear, the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, briefly vaulted past a record 80 reading as U.S. stocks ended sharply higher in a volatile day of trading.

 

… but a few soothing words from Ireland and everything is back to normal :)

Friday, 17 October 2008 10:22

European stock markets continued to rally this morning as investors were calmed by an overnight rise on Wall Street.

 

So is the worst behind us? Doomers please tell us what you think.

And would somebody please talk Igor out from under his bed?

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5 Comments for this entry

  1. AGENT says:
    October 17, 2008 at 1:10 PM

    Quite surprised to see that question on this blog… “So is the worst behind us?” I would think you know better than that. We’re just being lulled into a stupor. Actually, maybe you’re right and the worst is behind us, getting ready to give it to us in the behind. Being a CA realtor for 10 years, I sold everything I owned in ’06 and moved to Las Vegas. Now, I get to see what’s happening in both markets. CA escrows are stuck in nowhere land, going noplace, then after a couple months they resurface as BOM’s (back on market’s), hoping for another go at it. Vegas is just plain sad. It’s about time that I take another drive down the Strip and take a gander at the cranes just bobbing around in the breeze. I do understand, from family in the building business, that “collections” are now the main job of anyone in the building business. Just trying to collect what they’re owed is the #1 job now. No, the worst is not behind us. What’s happening now is that we’re just beginning to face reality. We haven’t even hit PANIC yet.

  2. John M. says:
    October 17, 2008 at 3:52 PM

    Agent -

    twist was talking to Hubble recently. Maybe this will cheer you up ;)

    “Resales provide only good news in housing”, by Hubble Smith, Las Vegas Review-Journal, October 17, 2008.

    The median existing-home price in September was $189,000, a decrease of $73,377, or 28 percent, from a year ago.

    New-home building permits remain at their lowest levels in decades. There were 461 permits pulled in September. The year-to-date total is down 53 percent at 5,452.

    October home sales will probably come down, Debi Averett of Housingdoom.com said.

    “My best bet is that a lot of buyers rushed to take advantage of down-payment assistance before it was no longer available,” she said. “The bump in September sales will probably take away from October sales, so I expect sales to be down quite a bit month to month.”

  3. John M. says:
    October 17, 2008 at 7:28 PM

    twist -

    Just finished reading Andrew Lahde’s rant. Wow.

    Andrew -

    If you worked out your strategy independently, well bully for you. If our Safety Net series was of some assistance, and should you happen to be peeking in on us this evening — Good bye and God Bless.

  4. freemonster says:
    October 18, 2008 at 5:22 AM

    AGENT, the worst is behind if you’re a short seller. What’s with this going from the frying pan to the fire. Cally to Vegas? At least Cally has water to soothe the burns.

  5. toysarefun says:
    October 19, 2008 at 3:45 PM

    I doubt it, inflation is stil coming, while wages and good jobs are not. Warren Buffet may have called bottom on the stock market last week.

    I think anyone with any common sense should be able to see that things are going to continue to get interesting though.

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