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.

Strategies & Market Trends : Waiting for the big Kahuna -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: HammerHead who wrote (23735)	8/9/1998 3:37:00 AM
From: N	Respond to of 94695

Robert, thanks for your good site too. ...something is to go boom in the night, although not of same magnitude: Russian debt blow to confidence By Jeremy Grant in London and Charles Clover in Moscow Russia's battle to revive sagging foreign investor confidence suffered a blow on Friday when the price of its dollar debt plunged to historic lows and the stock market hit its lowest level in 26 months. The development came as 10 Russian banks were downgraded by credit rating agency Fitch IBCA. The fall in Russian markets highlights the increasing difficulty Moscow faces in convincing foreign investors that it is tackling reform when the markets are sending the opposite signal. Despite the confidence generated by the IMF-led programme, which caused a brief rally in the market, equity buyers have become more pessimistic because of what they see as a lack of concrete results from the government's austerity programme. "There is a collective depression shaping people's moods and it's just very difficult to turn it around," said Isaac Tabor of West Merchant Bank. On Friday the RTS, the index of the Russian stock market, hit 132.8, compared to the previous low of 134.8 on July 8. The last time the stock market was at such low levels was May 24 1996, immediately before presidential elections. The most widely watched debt, restructured Soviet-era paper known as Prins, fell to 36 cents on the dollar on Friday - a fresh historic low. A week previously, it was at 43 cents.