Tuesday

[Zaphod]

Has anybody actually been watching the markets today? What triggered the selloff? Was it weather in South America?

[cottonpicken]

It started in korea last night.

I'm hearing something big was forced into liquidation and needed a huge number of usdx's.

Russia was locked limit down and the exchange was closed.

Gold broke through some significant resistance,with good reason,even in the face of a dollar rally.

There is so much scary news out there i dont know were to begin.

[cottonpicken]

I've said it many times,i hope i'm not right.

[Zaphod]

So this could be just a beginning?

[cottonpicken]

But my portfolio being up 25% today is telling me otherwise.

[cottonpicken]

"beginning"-more like another step forward in a series of unfortunate events that started a long time ago.

[Zaphod]

You're right, and I can't help thinking the US$ will puke at some point. But if (for whatever reason) the greenback makes it back above the Nov high, even gold could get hammered. Look at a monthly S&P for a nice "Dolly Parton" formation. What happens if the "cleavage" gets breached?

[liberty]

Apparently this near-meltdown in the financial markets had something to do with the exposure of Austrian banks to Eastern Europe. Austrian banks have lent the equivalent of 70% of Austrian GDP to Eastern European customers who are having difficulty paying. What I understand is that a default rate higher than 10% would be sufficient to bring down some of these banks, and the fear driving the markets down today was that they may have breached this point.

By the end of the day things seem to have settled down, but I have a feeling this is only the beginning.

[vvalk]

Not so sure the US dollar will go down. From what I hear China ( lost 20 million jobs ) and the european banks/economy are in a lot worse situation then the US is. The US may be printing money but so is the rest of the world.

[Daisy]

Deborah Duke
Redvers. Sk S0C2H0
dmfarms@sasktel.net