Where’s the bottom? Bruised investors on Wall Street keep asking the question after another brutal week of losses. But a growing sense of fear and gloom make it risky to bet that the worst is over for the shrinking US economy and stock market.
The relentless bear market savaged the Dow Jones Industrial Average of blue-chips, which fell 6.17 percent on the week to 6,626.94, just above a 12-year low.
The broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 sank to its level since 1996 over the past week, and lost 7.03 percent for the week to 683.38.
The technology-heavy NASDAQ composite fell 6.1 percent over the week to 1,293.85.
The Dow and S&P have already plunged 24 percent so far this year and the NASDAQ nearly 18 percent.
The horrific bear market has been reinforced by fears of an ever-deepening worldwide slump that has hit small and large firms alike, forcing massive job cuts and denting consumer spending as part of a downward economic spiral.
Some say the market, down over 50 percent from 2007 highs, has priced in a deep recession but may have to fall further if the slump becomes a depression — which could erase stock values by 90 percent if it follows the pattern of the 1930s.
“Investors should not rush in,” said Richard Berner, economist at Morgan Stanley. “Now that equities stand at 14-year lows and 55 percent below their October 2007 highs, they do reflect a lot of bad news — but maybe not quite enough. The further slide in production that we expect suggests that the near-term risks for earnings point down, and a rapid turnaround seems unlikely.”
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond fell back to 2.828 percent from 3.041 percent a week earlier and that on the 30-year bond eased to 3.503 percent from 3.722 percent.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
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