U.S. Stocks Plunge; Worst June For Dow Since 1930

[RedEarth]

U.S. stocks fell sharply Thursday with the blue-chip index enduring its worst June so far since 1930, and plunging to its lowest finish since Sept. 11, 2006, after getting slammed hard as crude soared to new highs and Goldman Sachs disparaged U.S. brokers and advised selling General Motors Corp.

"We're going to move in the opposite direction of oil, and General Motors is going to go out of business, at least according to Goldman Sachs," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) tumbled 358.41 points, or 3%, to 11, 453.42, leaving it down nearly 1,200 points, or 9.4%, for the month, with two trading days yet to go. As things stand, the month is the worst June so far since 1930 when the index declined 17.72%.

"One thing is for certain, if crude continues to rally, stocks are dead," said Dale Doelling, chief market technician at Trends In Commodities.

"If stocks have another day like this tomorrow, then the fallout next week could include government intervention in the markets," said Doelling.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djhighlights/200806261857DOWJONESDJONLINE000793.htm

[colt equalizer]

1. Homes down 20%, gas at $4, stocks tanking.

This could be bad for the November election if Democrats get charged for doing nothing about these items and America believes it.

Dodd & Conrad made the US Senate look like crooks.

70% of Americans now say drill.

$4 gas means young families are stretched even more than they were before with food prices up 20% because (mostly) of ethanol.

[TheFarseer]

2. All we have to do is wait for the Bush tax cuts to kick in

Clearly, the tax and spend policies of Bill Clinton are really beginning to put a bite on the US economy.

Seriously though, how can anyone say Bush or blanket tax cuts or massive de-regulation are good for the market? You can plainly see that it is not. Weren't we higher than this under Clinton? With lower unemployment and not-crazy commodity prices and for damn sure not $4 gas.

[JPettus]

4. Yes, but you won't see those days again

At least, until we have better alternatives than crude oil products and they have advanced to the point where they are economically available to the middle and lower classes.

Right now our dependence on oil (thank you Ronald Reagan) and unwillingness to go to alternative fuels or lack of maturity of alternative fuel sources leaves us vulnerable.

And, between the reduction in production of crude by OPEC nations and the emerging markets for petroleum products in China and India, demand will keep the price up.

What we need are reasonably priced alternatives to oil products that significantly reduce our reliance on Middle Eastern Oil.

And that will take probably another 10-20 years to develop now and mature to the point where they are affordable.

Look out folks. The neocons, in their greed for more money in oil profits, are taking the US right into another depression.

[Doctor_J]

3. the fundamentals are sound

I heard that from the first MBA Resident