St. Patty's Day Massacre
The Daily Reckoning Weekend Edition March 17-18, 2001 Paris, France By Addison Wiggin
MARKET REVIEW: St. Patty’s Day Massacre
As I write this… there’s a Saint Patty’s Day parade passing below the window of the office, so if it’s a little loud, please ‘bear’ with me. Nothing like bagpipes to get you fired up on a Saturday morning.
The Dow was handed its worst-ever weekly point drop… and “biggest percentage loss in more than 11 years on Friday.” (AP) Pessimism reigns. Analysts now fear the economy and corporate profits will not be able to turn around at all this year.
Friday, the Dow tumbled 207 point to 9823 – its first week ending close below 10,000 for the first time in 27 months. The Nasdaq lost 49 points Friday to close at 1890, rapidly approaching Lynn Carpenter’s forecast of 1800. The S&P 500 fell 23 to 1150.
For the week (ouch!):
– The Dow lost 821 points, including a 436-point slide in the Dow on Monday and another 317-point drop Wednesday. This crushing blow exceeded the 805 point collapse we saw last April. According to AP, the Dow’s 7+% slide was the largest since the week ending Oct. 13, 1989.
– The Dow has now shed 16.2% since its high of 11,722 (Jan. 14, 2000).
– The Nasdaq fell 161 points – or nearly 8% – for the week. Its now down 62% from its peak of 5048 on March 10, 2000.
– The S&P 500 fell 82 points or just below 7% for the week. It has lost more than 25% of its value from its high of 1527… also from this time last year.
Will Easy Al come to the rescue? Can he? Analysts are pining for an “aggressive” 3/4 point rate cut this coming Tuesday… but it may not come. The University of Michigan released its consumer confidence numbers on Friday showing an increase in February. Greenspan is rumoured to make his recommendations to the FOMC based on these numbers – rather than those eminating from Wall Street.
Markets Around The World: In Japan the Nikkei… wait what’s this?… it rose 0.66%. European markets fell. The DAX in Germany fell 2.64%, the London “footsie” shed almost 3%, and the CAC-40 in Paris slid a percent and a half.
The Russell 2000 dropped 32 for the week to 441…
ADD’L PRICES FOR THE WEEK: Gold Down Big… CRB/Oil Down…Dollar Very Strong…
Gold: $258 down $13
Crude Oil: $26.74
Natural Gas: $5.03
CRB Index: 215 down 7
Dollar Index: 115 up 4
The Sad, Sad Euro: $.89 (oh la, la)
British Pound: $1.42
Japanese Yen: $.82
FLOTSAM & JETSAM: Le Pied au Chameau
Okay… so no one noticed the belly dancer from Le Pied au Chameau. Here’s another look:
Belly Dancer at Le Pied au Chameau
Happy St. Patty’s Day,
Addison Wiggin,
The Daily Reckoning
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