I was listening to Financial News Hour and was shocked to hear the following YTD declines, not measuring from the highs earlier this year.
DJIA40%
SPX46%
NAS48%
These numbers would have been a lot worse had the market not rallied over 5% today. Brutal. These markets are falling faster than they ever have in history.
Overseas:
Nikkei 48%
Hang Sang48%
Brazil50%
Europe 48%
Commodities:
Gold -4.5%
Oil-51%
They also gave 5 things to look for in a market bottom.
- Look for the media to focus on something other than armageddon.
- High volatility changing to lower volatility. A drop in the Vix back to a more normal range.
- Ted spread to begin acting more normal.
- Watch financial/brokerage stocks (BKX) to turn around.
- Watch Japanese Yen/US Dollar for signs of weakness.
Nothing really new under the sun here, just thought it would be nice to recap some of the stories for anybody who didn’t get a chance to listen to the Financial News Hour.