Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bonnuss_in_austin who wrote (278375)	7/20/2002 11:44:27 PM
From: Karen Lawrence	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

THE STOCK MARKET, of course, is not the same thing as the economy, and the Dow Jones industrial average has a spotty record of predicting the future economic direction. So even though major stock market indices have been pointing straight down, it is important to remember that economic indicators have generally been positive, with the battered industrial sector showing steady signs of improvement. But you hardly need the results of a major survey to figure out that consumer confidence has been badly shaken by the latest leg of a seemingly insatiable bear market. Just turn on the television and watch members of Congress try to outdo each other in cracking down on corporate crime as the market melts down just 15 weeks before Election Day. Or look into the next cubicle and ask a co-worker if he has checked his retirement fund lately. The fact is, consumer confidence has taken a direct hit as the stock market has spiraled downward, and the impact could show up soon in a real slowdown in business and consumer spending, economists say. “I think you absolutely have to be worried,” said economist Ethan Harris of Lehman Bros., which has been steadily cutting its growth forecast to reflect the impact of sliding stock prices. The brokerage firm figures the market’s decline since March could trim second-half growth by 1.5 percentage points — a huge chunk when gross domestic product is projected to grow at a rate of about 3.5 to 4 percent over the next year. And the Lehman Bros. calculation was made before this week’s trading took another 7 percent off major market indices. The speed of the market’s decline has been truly breathtaking. In just 10 sessions, the Dow has lost 14.5 percent, equivalent to its loss in the first two years after it peaked in January 2000. Of the $7.7 trillion in market value lost since the bear market began nearly 28 months ago, $1.5 trillion, or nearly 20 percent, evaporated in just the past two weeks, according to the Wilshire Total Market Index, which closed Friday at its lowest level in more than five years. Dow plunges 390 points, nears 8,000