This was a wild week. The first four days brought us moves of over 50 points per day on the S&P. If we add up the point moves for each day, the S&P moved 243 points, although for the week it was only down 20.57 or 1.7%. Truth is, for most of us, the week wasn’t a killer, but the daily volatility was tough to handle. Let’s check out what others in the blogosphere wrote.
Matt at The Big Picture tell us why the S&P downgrade was An Excuse for Slashing Entitlements. Matt brings up far more good points that I could possibly share here, and agrees with my observation that if the downgrade were deserved, the yields on treasuries would have risen, not fallen. Investors don’t rush to a security that’s really at risk. Well, they shouldn’t.
Boomer offered some Economic Indicators You Should Track. He does a great job rounding up and explaining the usual suspects, unemployment, consumer confidence, and others.
Frugal Dad’s Jason offered a lesson in How to Manage Financial Stress. After this past week, I think we can all use Jason advice. I know I’ll be keeping the TV off this week. I’ll catch the news next Sunday.
At My Money Blog a few thought on Interest Rates Staying Low For A While. The Bernanke has pretty much stated he expects rates to remain low for the next two years, time to think how you can benefit from this.
And to close things out, Rob Bennett guest posted at my friend Kevin’s Out of Your Rut, Buy-and-Hold Is Either The Best Strategy of All Time or the Worst. An interesting thought, but more amazing is that this article was number 50 in his Beyond Buy and Hold series. Head on over, and check out this excellent observation of the market.
Thanks for mentioning Boomer’s article on economic indicators.