Financial markets really hate uncertainty, don't they?

[randomness]

"That stampede you're hearing? It's folks running for the exits."

The biggest problem right now is that no one has any clue who all are holding the bag, or even how big the damn bag is. So while it doesn't hurt that the Fed and the ECB are opening the credit windows and throwing money at the banks, that doesn't make any of the banks less fearful and suspicious of each other.

And fear and suspicion? Bad for markets, just like they're bad for any other relationships.

Comments

[quietann.livejournal.com]

Things are pretty insane right now, yes. I am hoping that the gains that my 403b accounts have made aren't completely erased by this. Somewhat contrary to this, I'm hoping that the developer of yet another half-dozen oversized, overpriced McMansions across the street from us won't be able to sell them. There cannot be a move-up real estate market if no one can access the bottom of the market.

What steams me is that it did not have to happen, and it shouldn't have happened. Throwing easy credit at people without the means to pay it back propped up the economy for a few years, and hey, guess what, our new President will have yet another disaster inherited from the Shrub.

Grrrrr.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I am hoping that the gains that my 403b accounts have made aren't completely erased by this.

I wouldn't worry about it; your time horizon has got to be at least a decade or two before retirement, so occasional dips like this you can made up for. If you were planning on retiring next year, that'd be another story.

I will say that easy credit goes all the way back to the tech bust, so I'm not going to pin this on the Shrub.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

yes, I am probably 10 to 20 years from retirement; it all depends on various financial transactions that are not in my hands.

hm... correct about the timeline for easy credit, though I don't think people (your average Joes and Janes) really noticed until after Shrub came into office. Remember all those folks predicting a huge economic crash after 9/11? It would have been far worse if easy credit hadn't stuck around.

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

Thank you for saying that aloud; I mean, it's not like I was gonna go reallocate and redistribute my 403b accounts, because I have like 30 years to retirement and I know I should NOT touch them except to tweak, but... yeah, still good to hear it said aloud. Even though I find myself saying it aloud to others sometimes.