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.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’