I spent the weekend in San Francisco, a few flowers in my hair. It was one of the those rare sunny weekends, void of the usual gloom and fog that engulfs the bay. It’s always nice to visit the city, but I’m glad to return to Santa Cruz’s two way streets and roads free of cables and buses. City life is hectic.
From coast to coast, city life is hectic indeed. I can only imagine the chaos swallowing New York’s Financial District right now. I’m using the thesaurus to find other ways to write Wall Street’s a mess from now on. Wall Street’s in an uproar. Wall Street’s in shambles. Wall Street’s in pandemonium. Alright, enough.
The DOW dropped a staggering 400 points this morning and fell below 10,000 for the first time in 4 years! If those numbers aren’t enough to scare you, lets look at some others. The SP500 dropped about 53 points, while the NASDAQ dropped about 101 points. 3,080 stocks declined on the New York Stock Exchange. That left about 78 advancing. Sentiment for the DJIA is extremely bearish, with the SP500 close behind it. The NASDAQ is holding on to its bullish sentiment by a thread. Since the sentiment meter at PredictWallStreet is refreshed every 15 minutes, I’m interested to see if by the end of the day the NASDAQ is able to remain bullish.
Banks are taking it hard. Bank of America (BAC), who just settled a suit over deceptive mortgage practices, is forecasted to close down today on PredictWallStreet.com. BAC is down today already 9%. Of the 107 predictions so far on BAC, almost half (40%) predict it will close down today.
Bank of American isn’t alone. Wachovia Corp (WB) is also forecasted to close down today from there opening price. There have been almost 250 prediction on WB this morning and one month sentiment is looking pretty bearish. The love triangle for Wachovia has become more complicated as the Fed and court judgments become more involved. This triangle between Citi Bank and Well’s Fargo may start to unravel into a more complicated geometric shape as talks of splitting Wachovia between the two surface. Lover’s spat’s are never fun for anyone. Wells Fargo & Co., (WFC) is also forecasted to close down today. WFC sentiment is bearish. Perhaps investors feel winning WB isn’t enough to mend these wounds. Citi (C) is also down today. Maybe WB isn’t good enough for anyone. Maybe it’s time to look for other fish in the sea.
I was on my friends iPhone yesterday and accidentally touched the stocks application by total accident, or fate, depending on how you look at it. Apple really didn’t have in mind a woman’s nails when creating the touch screen because I find myself buying and clicking things I don’t even want every time I play with one. The first symbol to show up on the stocks application was Apple (AAPL). That also could be accident or fate. Or product design. But anyway, I hadn’t checked the market all weekend and when I saw Apple’s sad, sad price of 94 something I was a little surprised. There’s something psychologically alarming when these numbers hit below the 100’s, or 10,000’s in the case of the DOW. Apple is down today almost 3%, and 42% of 300 predictors think it will close down again today. When will this madness stop I say!
Stumble It!
