Roller Coaster Markets

[El Presidente]

Well...Roller coaster in the assumption that there will be an upward swing sometime soon ....if only for the world to catch its breath.

Fear appears to have spread from government debt to banking and markets global regulation. Confidence in economic governance on a plethora of issues (currency, regulation, debt management, political expediency) has hit a crescendo akin to a bushfire out of control burning on multiple fronts. Strangely all happening at a time when the world as a whole (those economies that actually matter) appear/appeared to be achieving growth.

Interesting times indeed.

[Guest rob]

Have you got your Aussie Dollar voodoo doll out... ?

I'm sure you're smiling right now

[El Presidente]

Have you got your Aussie Dollar voodoo doll out... ?

I'm sure you're smiling right now

Ying and Yang. Buy prices are up. The speed of currency movements over the past week means that there are a mix of winners and losers short term but we are hoping for some stability over the next 3 weeks. Stability allows for planning which is essential in a business.

[Guest rob]

we are hoping for some stability over the next 3 weeks.

...

good luck with that...

[sje]

The AUD, at the levels of the past year or so were unsustainable, even though there are always pros and cons for the dollar rising and falling, i for one am thrilled our dollar is weakening, a large slice of my income is based in USD and Euro, maybe i can soon start to breathe again. (buy cigars, continue working on my Auto project, finish renovation, pay mortgage etc etc)

VIVA

PS, rob C, i will send your cigar off today

[Ken Gargett]

when australia gets tossed in the mix for countries with possible soveriegn debt issues, then something massively wrong has happened. even taking account of the gfc and market plunges, can anyone have imagined this 3 years ago. i've mentioned my low opinion of all politicians many times but our current mob have hit the absolute depths. the mining tax now has serious international operations considering some of the central african countries as better places to operate than here. not to mention the projects on hold, the lost income, the lost jobs, the damage to super funds.

if these morons had a shred of decency, they'd be throwing themselves on their swords as fast as possible. i wish no harm on anyone but i make a major exception for the current scum. (not to bring politics in to this).

and no doubt they'll convince great chunks of our population that the tax is a good thing (taking money from those nasty miners), because there'll be no link with the disaster we are plunging into - that will be someone/anyone else's fault.

[Ken Gargett]

it could have been worse - i checked the offshore markets around midnight. the dow was down well over 200 at the time but i accidently brought up the brazil market which was down 1,450 points at the time (about 2 1/2% so not good). thought it was the dow and nearly lost my insides. i've had a gutful of this.

[Guest rob]

1,450 points at the time - thought it was the dow and nearly lost my insides.

Dont rule out that happening to the dow in the coming months... I'm no economist, but as an astute observer/ semi-astute investor.... I can see there is serious possibilty.

[thechenman]

Not sure how much longer this freefall is going to last. Currently the U.S. equity markets are way oversold and the VIX shows no sign of volatility letting up. We have option expiration Friday today and next weekend is Memorial Day here in the states, so we'll have a long weekend which usually means lower trading volumes and higher volatility. So at least for the time being, I'd expect the volatility to continue. Of course everyone only hopes this is a dip on the road to recovery, but so many unforeseen incidents are happening, and the politicians here are going crazy. Correction...they were already crazy, but just moreso now. In Bear Markets stocks stay oversold, so the best indicator right now is to see a return to buying. Large institutional investors have been puking up stocks and commodities futures like crazy. Oil, Metals, Energy, banks, brokers, credit card and processing companies...and that just scratches the suface. Was on a conference call last night with a hedge fund in Sydney. They are calling emergency meetings already. While I don't think things are that bad, I do agree that it is time to buckle your seatbelts because this is going to be one bumpy ride.

[tugboat]

I've started buying in a few companies. A little early but can't stand some of the deals out there.

[bunburyist]

Little diference it will make now I suppose, but to better prepare ourselves for future scenarios like this I'm all for separating high street/main street banking (lending) from merchant banking (investment). Too risky to have them intertwined imo. Glass-Steagall Act n all that.

[Ken Gargett]

Little diference it will make now I suppose, but to better prepare ourselves for future scenarios like this I'm all for separating high street/main street banking (lending) from merchant banking (investment). Too risky to have them intertwined imo. Glass-Steagall Act n all that.

agree. took a whole decade after de-reg for the crap to hit big time.

and if i had the dosh, i'd be agreeing very much with tugboat. povided you can hang on for the long haul on some of what is out there but a lot of ups and downs still to come.

[Deemancpa]

not a great day for me. I had to unwind some positions today that were unfavorable.

Need a good cigar!

[Ken Gargett]

not a great day for me. I had to unwind some positions today that were unfavorable.

Need a good cigar!

yesterday, i had my bank think they made a systems error on my margin loan account, plunging me from outside the buffer (one of the few times of recent i've been there) into call territiory - weird stuff was happening. eventually we worked out it was because of some "incorrect" information the bank had provided. five hours of discussion - at all times extremely polite on both sides - i was finally told 'sorry, nothing more we can do for you' (in other words, tough, and go and sort yourself out - which would have cost a bundle). i very politely mentioned i'd worked as a banking lawyer etc etc for more than 20 years and at the very least was happy to chat to the ombudsman (rob thinks i know the ombudsman in every industry but that is not true).

the bank chap then said, 'why don't we see what we really can do'.

put me on to a manager who sorted it all out in two minutes, did exactly what i'd wanted. could have saved hours.

i too needed a good cigar.

[CigarmanTim]

1 word... ok 2... inverse etf's TZA