Obama Oratory Fails To Woo Wall Street

Awhile back I predicted that the market would reach its bottom in the mid sixes, I don't know if that will still happen, I hope not, but this doesn't look good-Jer

Inauguration Day usually makes for a lackluster trading session, but yesterday's was historically bad as the Dow sank 4 percent, dipping below 8,000 and erasing the early rally of 2009. Financial stocks again led the way down. The New York Times reckons it was one of the "worst Inauguration Day losses in more than a century," as investors turned a deaf ear to the incoming president's message to choose hope over fear. There is not much hope in the numbers. The newspaper gloomily reminds us, "housing values are falling faster, trade is shrinking and the unemployment rate, now at 7.2 percent, is expected to hit 9 percent or more." The Wall Street Journal adds the task of sorting out America's stricken financial sector to President Obama's growing to-do list. A top priority is pumping more money into tottering banks by buying up their bad assets, possibly in the form of convertible assets that would see the federal government owning more and more of these institutions. And, yes, full-blown nationalization of the most precarious banks is an option, though one of "last resort," the newspaper says. Expecting some dramatic intervention, investors bailed on the sector yesterday, sending U.S. bank stocks down 20 percent.


Complete Original Article from Slate