U.S. Stock Market Drops Like A Stone

[shortsqueeze]

I was lucky (or unlucky since I was sick) to be at home and watch it unfold over 30 minutes. Simply amazing to watch. High frequency trading will be the death of all our 401k's, IRA's and Roth accounts. Algorithms on all the super computers at the institutions exacerbated the nervousness and problems. What really sucks is all those who had stop/loss orders on there individual accounts. There's no recourse for them to recoup their money. But you bet whoever bought PG in the mid $40's will have that trade unwound.

How low did it trade? It's possible they will break the trades, stop orders included, and reset them. I've seen it before when an error elected their execution. I've also seen NYSE specialist firms actually cut checks, large ones, for losses associated with mis-priced executions. If you are an individual investor, or an institutional one, this story is not yet over.

[Habanos2000]

If I know anything at all it's that I don't know everything. So I try to follow the advise of those that I think do.

"We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful."

Warren Buffett

Good advise.

[cvm4]

How low did it trade?

At the NYSE, it was trading for $56. Once it broke through its circuit breaker, online exchanges could trade through the NYSE quote. Which at the lowest point was $39 and change.

Nasdaq put out a list Friday of what trades would be affected. They include: Accenture(ACN), Exelon(EXC) , CenturyTel(CTL), Oneok Partners (OKS), CenterPoint(CNP), Boardwalk Pipeline(BWP), Windstream(WIN), Interpublic(IPG), Hansen Natural(HANS), Linn Energy(LINE) and Genpact(G).

[bunburyist]

and here we go again! Whatever happens, this will definitely go down as a remarkable and most likely defining moment in history. Volatility and wealth transfer at unbelievable speeds, never seen in times of peace. In fact, wars have been fought over less than this...

€750bn of debt popped out of thin air as Europe goes all in. Almost US$1trillion. ''We will protect the Euro at all costs''. On top of the 100s of billions of debt already raised......and the markets bounce!

Unreal. Although as the saying goes - even a dead cat will bounce.

I know most of my posts on this subject are pessimistic but....does anyone out there see a sustainable path of growth out of this mess? I just can't fathom the short-termism of it all.

Liquidity helps, yes, but it doesn't address the deep structural problems which have led to this mess and I don't see that any real effort is going into it. We're just chucking money (our children's and grandchildren's money, to be exact) at a problem and hoping it goes away.

And just to rub it in, there appears to be a good dose of IMF funding in there as well - so everyone gets to pay for it! I don't have to pay to prop up California, so why should it be different the other way round?

I fear for the UK at a time like this - without a monster fund orchestrated by the Fed or ECB to fall back on, sterling is looking mighty lonely out there.

Besides that, massive money printing ahoy, and hello inflation, goodbye savings.

There are few guys on the forum who have real insight into this mess - what's your call? Gold?....not stocks surely?

[thechenman]

Time to stock up on gold and silver bullion. MREs and some guns and lots of bullets.

[Ken Gargett]

[

There are few guys on the forum who have real insight into this mess - what's your call? Gold?....not stocks surely?

mate who has the financial resources, sadly i do not, was buying shares - aussie resources - last week. he sees this as a blip in a long term golden era. has been pretty accurate over recent years. and this morning's hike - yet another blip of sorts - would more than cover him short term, if he wanted to go that way.

[daboose]

Time to stock up on gold and silver bullion. MREs and some guns and lots of bullets.

Do you like the Perth Mint gold bars? Also stocking up with US Silver Eagles.

[thechenman]

In a crisis, shares in mineral/metal companies or ETFs like the GLD or SLV don't/won't count for squat. The shares will be worthless. In a true crisis scenario, if you believe it is really coming, hard assets are the only way to go, and on top of that, you don't want them stored for you at your precious metals broker, you want to take physical delivery and store it yourself. When everything goes to hell in a hand basket, if you don't have your precious metals in hand, you won't be getting them period.