The market seems to be selling-off on the back of limited bad news imo, apart from the dollar that is.

If you can hold your nerve and apart from any short term requirements to offload poor performing stocks, I have a couple!!, my advice would be sit tight. This does not have the feel of the tech(mining!) bubble at all. Difference being there are a lot of good fundamentals, unlike in 2000 when there were a lot of over rated nothing companies.

To me it looks like the correction of late 1998.......which then moved on to create higher highs............for a couple more years before the real bear began.

I'm loathed to go by the Dow, md. Widely followed yet represents ?? ;-0 12k is indeed important however. Have a look at S&P500

I'm afraid the dive under 6k for UKX probably did it for me.

You have to laugh, Buffett is not so worried about things is he........ ;)

http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/21/news/newsmakers/buffett_countrywide.reut/index.htm?postversion=2007082108

Countrywide may be attractive to Buffett

Investors bet billionaire investor could buy parts of the battered mortgage lender.

August 21 2007: 8:08 AM EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Billionaire investor Warren Buffett could buy parts of Countrywide Financial Corp, some investors are speculating,The Wall Street Journal reported, sending shares of beleaguered mortgage lender sharply higher in pre-market trading.

Countrywide (Charts, Fortune 500) shares initially jumped 10 percent on the news before paring some gains, remaining up nearly 3 percent.

Countrywide's debt-servicing business and its portfolio of mortgages and mortgage-backed securities may be attractive to Buffett, the Journal reported Monday, citing unnamed investors.

Like many mortgage lenders, Countrywide has struggled with rising delinquencies and foreclosures, and unwillingness among bankers to extend credit and among investors to buy the loans it makes.

Panic eases, credit woes persist

Countrywide, which is being closely monitored by U.S. regulators, sought to reassure investors earlier Monday that it is safe to do business with the company.

Buffett has been increasing his stake in financial services companies, including those with significant exposure to the mortgage market.

Earlier this month, Buffett's investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (Charts, Fortune 500) disclosed an investment in Bank of America Corp. (Charts, Fortune 500), one of the six largest U.S. mortgage lenders, in a regulatory filing.

Berkshire is also a long-time shareholder in Wells Fargo & Co. (Charts, Fortune 500), the second largest U.S. mortgage lender after Countrywide.

Wells Fargo has largely been spared the subprime mortgage-related woes afflicting smaller rivals, helped by its conservative underwriting standards.

Buffett said in a televised interview last week that the worsening credit and housing markets may present some "real" investment opportunities.

Berkshire officials were not immediately available for comment. Buffett does not discuss what Berkshire is presently buying and selling.

He'll be picking up the "good bits", PP. Check out the comment re Wells Fargo. ;-)))

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks edged higher on Tuesday in choppy trading after Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said the Fed chairman told him he was willing to use all available tools to calm market turmoil.

"Billionaire investor Warren Buffett could buy parts of Countrywide Financial Corp"

....Hang on son you might just pick them up a bit cheaper )-:

as comment commented ...... "choppy trading" ...... weaker, firmer, quite strongly firmer, drop off again etc etc ...... Fed announcements and similar traditionally come at about 19:15 UK time, so that may also apply here, if there is anything announced at all

Al , the whole picture on any of the charts looks like a 5th wave has formed and the game is up. However , it is possible that all the indices could drop to the lower less steep trendline(the one before oct 2006) and recommence the advance(this line is presently sitting at 11250 and if this went then it would be all over) .

if any of us could read the top or bottom correctly we,d be in the bahamas and not bullshitting here , correct :-))

or even just shitting - lol!

md - top and bottom picking is particularly tricky, but you just have to weight the odds at the time, I guess. All in all, my current guess is we have more downside than upside. I said the opposite in April 2003!! ;-))

Still, had my best day on the markets for a long time today thnaks to RAY, HAMP and a bit of a punt on UKX, although I didn't take full advantage of that one.

Dow is distinctly undecided, so my guess is that towards the end of trading it will turn negative as Bernanke's comments etc were clearly totally and intentionally neutral to opaque

i thought the question was are we in a bear market?

It is. ;-)

Currently our world runs on borrowings against house prices. Today's headline reads "Foreclosures jump 93 percent in July".

Does anyone really believe this will not affect future earnings? Hell, Wal-Mart, Macy's, etc have all downgraded guidance for the rest of this year.

NEW YORK (AP) - Shares of mortgage lenders climbed Tuesday on prospects for a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut and the possibility that Countrywide Financial Corp. could attract a buyout.

Mortgage lenders' stocks have fluctuated dramatically in the past few months and the ones that are not bankrupt still trade near multiyear lows.

The rest of the market has hardly leapt on this!!!!!

very happy to see a peaceful day on Wall Street with just a modest sell-off at the end, rather as expected

trading volumes very light in new york - seems like everybody is waiting

just been watching senator Dodd , seems they want to bail out everybody. shorts not a good idea this week