Does this mean anything? August is upon us. Oh well, hope you are all prepared.

-- thinkIcan (thinkIcan@make.it), July 30, 1999

Answers

We are looking for distant storm clouds on the horizon, are we not?

-- thinkIcan (thinkIcan@make.it), July 30, 1999.

Remember 300 points at 10,000 is not like 300 points when the DOW was at 2-3000. This is still noise, the drop may have started but there may be BIG down days in the future.....

-- helium (heliumavid@yahoo.com), July 30, 1999.

No, no one noticed that. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

-- Prometheus (fire@for.man), July 30, 1999.

7/30/99 -- 6:15 PM

SEC updates database on Y2K readiness of brokerages, others

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday it has updated the database on its Web site that includes Year 2000 readiness reports that brokerage firms, mutual funds and transfer agents must file.

The database contains more than 27,000 reports that describe the companies' state of Year 2000 preparedness, their costs for fixing the problem and their contingency plans.

On Tuesday, the SEC adopted rules under which it will go to court starting Dec. 1 to shut down brokerage firms that are not ready for the millennial date change.

In a 5-0 vote, the commissioners set a target date of Aug. 31 for brokerages to complete their Year 2000 compliance efforts but allowed additional time for unprepared firms to show that they will be ready no later than Nov. 15.

The SEC's Web site is at www.sec.gov.
---------------------------------------------------------------
xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xx

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), July 30, 1999.

I'd wait a couple of more days (perhaps until next friday) before I made anything of it...we've been seeing some pretty hefty swings in the past couple of months. In august, many, if not most, people take vacations...and ignore their investments (not necessarily a good plan, just what they do...).

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), July 30, 1999.

Check out cbsmarketwatch.com. Scroll down to the editorial by Kellner called "Fear of Falling." In it he points to "the approach of Y2K" (among other things) as a reason for the bad July.

-- Jim the Window Washer (Rational@man.com), July 30, 1999.

I didn't realize it was a bad July. The market is still within 400 points of its all time high. The sheeples aren't waking up, and they probably won't until very early next year.

-- Jammy (wesleyan@dog.com), July 30, 1999.

I think the sheeple are waking up. First, the bond market got hit hard today. In the matter of about 2.5 hours I had 3 different people approach us on y2k and what might happen. They had decided to prepare. This is defiantely good news that more people are taking interest in preparing.

-- Moore Dinty moore (not@thistime.com), July 30, 1999.

I remember the Mini-Crash of '87 because I lost a buttload of money. I am of course getting out of the market. However from what I have seen, you can't say there is much of a 'crash' until the drop is %10 or more.... that seems to be some sort of line. Another thing we are forgetting is that a) an enormous number of stock trades are made by computers using various software schemes, and the computers won't recognise y2k as a hazard unless they are programmed to. This is a very rich irony. b) is that if the market drops too quick, it is automatically shut off, also by computers, and if it reopens the next day and continues to drop, it is shut down again and so forth. It may turn out that people's assets aren't devalued on paper so much as made inaccessible because the volume of trades is restricted by the cutoff. This will mean the market will go bumpity- bump like a toddler down stairs. The reason we haven't seen more jitters before is that brokers, like everyone else,can't predict what will happen, and who wants to be the first on the block to liquidate? BTW, myself and others who are actually selling stocks for cash may have noticed that sizable trades are now taking longer. What used to be a phone call now requires an exchange of faxes. Here I will stop predicting anything since I don't want to look stupid, either!

-- Forrest Covington (theforrest@mindspring.com), July 31, 1999.

I would hazard a guess that one point below 10,000 will send the market into a tailspin. Have no idea how long it might take to get there, but this number seemed to indicate to people that anything was possible, so the loss of it will be the signal to flight IMHO.

-- Gia (laureltree7@hotmail.com), July 31, 1999.

The stockbrokers and the pundits on CNBC will nodoubtedly chant "Prices are down...now's a great time to snap up some deals."

P/E ratios tell me otherwise.

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), July 31, 1999.

thinkIcan,

Yeah, about a 3 percent dip in two days -- about a one and a half percent drop for each of those two days.

Be sure to let us know when this adds up to double digits.

-- No Spam Please (nos_pam_please@hotmail.com), July 31, 1999.

The difference between this one and the fluctuations previously is that this one actually makes sense relative to the economic data which came out. Signs of cost-push inflation in the labor market will cause the Fed to raise interest rates. Secondary stock and bond markets hate this. This is the reason for the dip. When most investors notice, they will start to bail.

Where's that number for my broker?

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), July 31, 1999.

Funny, if you pick the right stocks your portfolio is UP right now (like mine). You can take profits and buy many of the undervalued stocks.

Of course, you could listen to the pessimists on this forum and get out; but then you won't make any money. If you don't know what you are doing, it is probably best for you to get out anyway. Makes room for the big boys to build real wealth.

-- Money Maker (money@the.exchange), July 31, 1999.

Gia, I agree with your assessment. I won't be concerned about the drop until it dips below 10,000. I expected a rollercoaster ride between 10,000 and 11,000 for a time.

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), August 01, 1999.