The Market Turning Around...
Murrey -
The Tech Market is awful, but the small and mid cap markets are generally doing pretty well. I've got some small and mid cap sector funds in my 401K, and they're all above their pre-9/11 levels now.
Personally, I wouldn't look for a turn in the tech markets until All Hope Has Been Abandoned. I remember in the 80's...I had just started working, and didn't own any individual stocks, but remember thinking that anyone who owned semiconductor stocks was nuts. I seem to recall that tech stocks, in general, had the aura of "high risk, little chance of reward" about them.
From what I hear on the radio stock market call in shows, I feel that too many people are still hoping against hope that their tech holdings will recover, if they just hold on a little longer.
Actually, one of my (many) pet theories is that we'll need to see most of those stock market shows canceled due to lack of audience before a bottom in the market can truly be declared.
Notwithstanding the above theory, I think it'll be another couple of years before tech spending by corporations begins to kick in again; by then, the hardware that was purchased for Y2K will be fully depreciated, and in need of replacement.
As I said earlier: things suck out there! I have three friends of mine, who I used to work with, who went off into the computer consulting world in the last 90's. They're VERY VERY good at what they do. One guy, who was doing PeopleSoft DBA work, has been out of work since last July. He's not getting any calls for jobs. None. Previously, people were knocking his doors down to pay him $120/hr plus expenses. Another guy is a Teradata data warehousing expert. He was out of work since last July, also, but has recently found a one month gig. Previously, six month or more contracts were the norm, and he had more work being offered to him than he could handle, at $100/hr plus expenses. The third friend, a Microsoft SQL Server DBA and all around wiz, had been out of work since October. He just landed a one month gig, but prior to that, was not getting any calls, and was not getting answers to ANY of the resumes he sent out.
Anyway, sorry for bumming everyone out. I love technology, and it kills me that my best performing stock this year has been a pizza & beer restaurant, rather than something like NTAP.
Take care,
Steve |
