No one should ever have to sit through a four hour class until 10 p.m. on a Tuesday, no one. Especially a Security Markets class being taught at a graduate level by a some sort of genius. As my professor sipped on his Taco Bell soda, he told us he had to “rearrange” his lecture because of recent events. He clicked through his slides and every so often there were giant red X’s where he had removed text. “That was a paragraph on investment banking,” he said. “How many of you want to be investment bankers?” Few people raise there hands. He just laughs, like smart guys do when they want to make you feel not so smart. But I knew what he was saying even through the Taco Bell straw laugh. There is no investment banking. The top 5 investment banking firms are essentially kaput. That Wall Street job you’ve been dreaming of most likely doesn’t exist anymore, at least not right now. Our economy, the one we knew a few years ago, maybe even months, doesn’t exist. It’s hard to see how much history is being unraveled right in front of you when you’re a part of that history. This is supposed to be the stuff I read in books, not my life.
Oh and messy it is on Wall Street. Stocks declined this morning after a seven year high was reported in jobless claims. As consumers begin to wonder if the bailout plan really is enough to ward off a recession, the The Dow Jones fell again today about 300 points. Wamp. Wamp. Sentiment for the major indices is surprisingly bullish today, according to PredictWallStreet’s sentiment meter. The NASDAQ, DJIA, and SP500 are in the extremely bullish zone. Huh. Guess people are still hopeful even when they don’t have jobs!
W. Buffet (the OG investor) is scared. Scared is probably pushing it considering this guy has more money than God. In case you didn’t know, he owns a few thousand shares in Heaven Corp. Don’t be surprised if when you get to the gates, Buffet is standing there to let you in holding a Coca-Cola, passing out See’s Candy. He warns about the repercussions if the bailout doesn’t get passed urging that US economy needs it more than Wall Street and giant investors.
PredictWallStreet’s forecasts today include Apple (AAPL), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), General Motors (GM), Morgan Stanley (MS), and Research in Motion (RIMM) to name a few big ones.
Apple (AAPL) is forecasted to close up today. Sentiment spiked up today after a few days of being bearish. Right now there are down almost 7% so I’m curious to see if they can recover that much and actually close up today. Consumers seem to be optimistic, so hopefully AAPL can stay strong.
Bank of America (BAC) is forecasted to close down today even though checking the sentiment graph shows people are bullish. I would think because of all the banking mishaps lately people would be less hopeful for the banking industry, but perhaps since BAC has remained out of the negative headlines, people still have some trust left. Citigroup (C) is also forecasted to close down today, even though sentiment appears to be relativley bullish.
And Research in Motion is also forecasted again today. RIMM is forecasted to close down. Once again sentiment seems pretty bearish. Hmmm….
So I’m noticing that the forecasts seem to be contradicting sentiment. If a stock is forecasted to close down, sentiment still seems to be bullish. Which is also odd to me because every financial headline is screaming about how scared investors are so I don’t get why there so bullish. Perhaps sentiment hasn’t caught up yet with price. Perhaps investor are trying to be bullish because they know panicking right now would only be worse for the market. I feel like there is a better answer to this conundrum and if anyone has the more insightful answer I’d love to hear.
Ps. Don’t drink any milk or eat any candy today. You could die. Seriously.
Stumble It!
