If it's bad today, tomorrow and Wed will be worse...

[CoffeeCat]

Many people have been sitting and waiting.

They didn't know how the bailout would affect the markets. Most people believed
that the bailout would help Wall Street. Now, it is obvious that it's not going
to help--at all.

Many people did not act today. The "early adopters" acted today.

Tomorrow, and the rest of this week--has the potential for utter devastation as
others who see the writing on the wall--get out of the market, to avoid losing
everything.

Many people will take their cues, from what happened today. Tomorrow, they'll
be pulling out of the market. As things worsen this week, others will follow
suit.

People rely on "corrections" to stop the hemorrhaging. However, Americans
are scared to invest in the stock market. It just doesn't look like a good
deal right now. People are hoarding cash and putting their cash into safer
investments. The bailout wasn't a "silver bullet" and I think that creates
further uncertainty about the market and its ability to do well. Americans
are asking, 'If 700 billion couldn't help, can anything?'

As Sam Jackson said in "Jurassic Park", "Hold on to your butts!"

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

1. we will see where it closes...

in the last 25 minutes, it has gone from -800 points, to -594, so it has gained over 200 points off its lows.

edited to update

[AndyTiedye]

2. Uh, WHAT Safer Investments?

[MercutioATC]

8. Cash, money market funds, Treasuries, bonds...

...any of a number of less volatile (or guaranteed) investments.

[gristy]

3. It might be worse tomorrow

Do you gamble? What kind of odds would you care to set?

[bullimiami]

4. i think as seems to be typical. todays disaster will be followed by a huge buying glut tomorrow.

[winggirle]

5. So...the crazy week has just began...

I am still wondering what to tell me friends and family members who don't speak politico jargon because they thought and believe this $700 bn bailout would have un-did some of those bad apples Bush has giving his Citizens...

He is starting to look like Saddam Hussein, I wonder if the rest of the world feels the threat of terror from the United States and him as a tyrant...

t-money

[Duer 157099]

6. Yep. Friday's excuse was "Sell the news"

But that obviously does not account for today. So not a good sign.

[MannyGoldstein]

7. I Got Out A Few Weeks Ago

With the looming shitstorm, I figured that I couldn't double my money in the near future, but I sure could lose most of it in a matter of days.

[Warpy]

17. Not me. I'm living on the dividends

not the face value. I never trusted that face value because I know how overpriced equities have been over the past 10 years.

[AllexxisF1]

9. Tomorrow will be the turning point.

Tomorrow will be the turning point when people do panic. I mean really panic and begin heading to the banks.

This is not going to be pretty.

[Horse with no Name]

10. I honestly expect at least one unscheduled "bank holiday" this week

Because when people get home tonight and see what happened today they are going to be scared and they are going to run on the banks. I would almost bet on it.

[Geek_Girl]

11. I think your right that the bailout did not help restore confidence in the markets

But maybe things will turn around tomorrow. I thinks this is a knee jerk reaction to what is happening in the global markets.

[Marie26]

12. but you don't lose unless you sell.

So someone w/a 20-year horizon shouldn't "lose everything" even if there is another Great Depression.

[MannyGoldstein]

14. Stocks Prices Took > 30 Years To Recover From The Depression

If accounting for inflation. Almost 20 years if not accounting for inflation.

(If I recall correctly)

[Marie26]

19. So,

assuming that's correct, w/a 20-year horizon, stocks would eventually return to the same level even w/a Great Depression. And that's not even accounting for dividends that accrue over the years even on an underperforming stock. Inflation is something that's difficult to estimate anyway, especially now that they're manipulating the figures, but it's unquestionably rising right now. IMO there's a real danger of hyperinflation w/the bailout/Fed. Res. injections of massive amounts of money into the system.

Would someone in 1930 w/a 30-year horizon have been better off pulling out of DOW-index stocks? To go where? The money depreciates w/o interest, & many banks were considered unstable. They didn't have FDIC insurance then & could lose everything if the bank failed. So that hypothetical 1930's person might actually have been better off leaving it in the stock market. Also, there was actually deflation in the 1930's, compared to the high inflation rate now. Interest rates are also incredibly low. So right now, even w/money in a safe bank account, the interest probably won't even beat inflation; if hyperinflation begins, the savings account becomes even more devalued.

Yeah, the entire US eoonomy could tank in such a historic way that the stock market never recovers, but if that happens, even US treasury bonds or FDIC-insured banks could become worthless as well. If hyperinflation begins, even money in a mattress becomes worthless. So there's risk no matter what you do. There's no way to know what'll happen here & it's all a gamble. But I've realized that the market gurus, despite their MBA's & market jargon, are as clueless as we are. If Jim Cramer says sell, I'll buy. It's as good a policy as any. :)

[suston96]

13. Tomorrow may be profit taking. Maybe Wednesday will turn to crap......nt

[Warpy]

15. The time to invest is when "nobody" wants to

because "nobody" is usually a piss poor judge of things like this. He's the character who's dumping his 401K in favor of t-bills that earn nothing instead of an insured money market or CD that would earn a pittance.

The truth is that equities are overvalued and have been for the past decade. I think the market has farther to fall and when it does, I'm going to go shopping.

The bailout wasn't to help Wall Street, per se. It was to provide banks with money to lend so that businesses would be able to order stock, farmers would be able to order seeds, and the supply side of the consumer economy would continue to function.

It's going to fail because they're still starving the demand side.

[n2doc]

16. Can't predict

I think it is just as likely that we get a dead cat bounce tomorrow. I suspect the Fed will pull some sort of surprise, like lowering rates, to stop the latest fall. What happens next, who knows.

People need to remember that the market has been overpriced for a long time (by historical PE averages). That means prices going lower are not completely unjustified. The bigger problem is that the economy has been propped up by housing and stock market bubbles, and those are gone. We need real job growth in this country, not bubbles.

[katty]

18. o yeah, this is the slippery slope-sell or bail