“It was exactly a month ago yesterday that we hit the all time high of 14,164, now we’re 1000pts down.”
That high of 14,164 occurred after the summer credit crunch sent the Dow to about 12,500 in mid August. Some reasons we saw the rally to over 14k is that the Fed began easing starting with a 50 bps cut and the street made the assumption that the Financials threw the kitchen sink into third quarter earnings thus the worst of the credit crunch had passed (and we all lived happily ever after). The true reality of the credit crisis is beginning to set in and it is far from over. The Royal Bank of Scotland chief credit strategist Bob Janjuah in London has one of the most bearish views and IMO probably the most accurate.
“This credit crisis, when all is out, will see $250bn to $500bn of losses. The heat is on and it is inevitable that more players will have to revalue at least a decent portion” of assets they currently value “using ‘mark-to-make believe'”.
So far there have been about $50B in losses reported. The market has not priced in Mr. Janjuah’s assumptions. Of course there is also the global growth story that clouds how the markets will react among a myriad of other factors. In other words I have no idea where the market is heading IMHO but this credit crisis thing ain’t over.
