And That’s The Week That Was: 1.18.08

January 21, 2008 |

Attached/linked please find And That’s The Week That Was…the Brounes & Associates market/economic commentary for the week ended January 18, 2008.  With virtually all investors calling for some pretty dismal earnings numbers from Citigroup and Merrill, the results were even worse than expected.  Enter more foreign governments with a continuation of the international “bailout”…talk about globalization at its finest/worst.  (Is anyone else concerned about this?)   Earnings season has lived up to its most pessimistic predictions; financials led the negativity, though some consumer-driven companies suffered last quarter as well.  For now, there seems to be no reprieve in sight including Bush’s quickly conceived economic stimulus plan that many believe to be “too little, too late.”  News from the housing, retail, and inflation fronts brought even more sentiments of “gloom and doom.”  Oil prices declined (at least, that’s a positive), gold rose (the ultimate hedge), and the Fed looks to be on target for a 50 bps cut in the weeks to come.  Equities tumbled early in the week and never looked back.  Both the tech-heavy NASDAQ and the small-cap Russell 2000 have fallen over 10% thus far this year and the other indexes aren’t far behind.  Perhaps investors will get this intense negativity out of their system all at once and then move on to better things?  (Wishful thinking…) 

Coming up in the week ahead:  Existing Home Sales (Thursday)

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