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.

It is just like the almost bankrupt businessman trying to show off to his clients by buying a new Ferrari and a Rolex gold watch. Then things go BUST.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Mortgage investor Freddie Mac said its third-quarter loss more than doubled from year-ago levels as mortgage prices collapsed and credit tightened, forcing the firm to add to loss provisions and consider cutting its dividend in half. See full story.
Horton has fourth-quarter loss; market 'remains challenging'
Homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc. swung to a net loss in its fiscal fourth quarter as the company took more land-related write-downs amid the continuing downturn in the housing market. The company also expects the housing environment to "remain challenging."
Analysts worry that mortgage woes could spread to auto loans
Rising delinquency rates on car and truck loans have some industry analysts concerned that subprime mortgage troubles could spill into the automotive finance business.

Kesa Electricals has this morning reported sustained strong sales momentum in its third quarter.

Europe's third-biggest electricals retailer said this reflected continuing strong demand for multimedia goods and flat-screen TVs.

For the three months to October 31st, the group's total sales increased by 11.3% and were up 9.9% in local currency.

Like-for-like sales were up 3%, slightly below analysts' expectations.

'This was a solid third quarter performance. Against the high comparatives of last year, all our businesses delivered revenue growth,' said CEO, Jean-Noel Labroue.

The CEO said that despite continued strong demand for flat-screen televisions and good sales of multimedia equipment, particularly laptops, the negative mix effect on the margin observed at the end of the first half continued throughout this quarter.



just posted this as a reminder that people are still spending, and i bet sales in general will be very strong this Christmas on the high street. My prediction 3 months ago of a rate drop before Christmas could still ring true yet...

halifax - not sure about the reasoning re bonuses above. We've seen the heads of 2 of the largest banks in the world (US) resign and take monster payouts for building up massive debts which were written down. To add to that, we've known about fat cats for decades. Personally, the bigger the bonuses, the more these banks are worrying that they must grab it now IMO!!! ;-)))

Big Al thats fine if the bonuses are justifiable but if the shareholders dont see a relative increase in dividend or increased share buybacks then the directors will be on the line for not looking after the shareholders interests.

Seems to me that banking bonuses are calculated against profits and profits are to a large extent calculated against alleged value of derivative type products and the like held on the books. It is therefore in their interests to value these as highly as possible and we all now know that some of these historically were well away from reality. In my view any bonuses should be calculated primarily against cash profits.

halifax - compeltely agree with you. Just saying that these incompetents milk it for all its worth even when things have plainly gone t*ts up.

It seems to me they continue even when they know they'll be hauled over the coals. There's no penalty for a director who cocks up and never has been IMO.

Partridge agree bonuses should not paid out on unbooked profits. This is why it is also the responsibility of external auditors to ensure that stated profits are tangible otherwise they too can be held to account by the shareholders.

Will there be one big sell off before a bounce...??? will we test 5850 this week or next??? tough call, but sentiment is negative everywhere i turn...

Bonuses of top execs shd rise with shareholders divs,and fall too if appropriate ,its the shareholders who are the owners and they have all to lose. If any one still feels cheerful trythis piece from a top bear writing on systemic financial meltdown on FT Alphaville http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2007/11/21/9066/stand-by-for-generalised-systemic-financial-meltdown/

Just tried to view the JRVS thread, but its subscription only, are their any on the traders thread???

I think the Dow had a false rally on Friday. Now the Saudis will consider ditching the US Dollar to protect the Riyals.

Is Bush aware of the situation concerning the dollar or is his time fully occupied in trying to convince the world that the invasion of Iraq has been a resounding success?

Assuming that he can spare a moment to address the end of the American empire does he understand enough about financial matters to act effectively?

If only Iraq was a success...had the Iraq invasion been a short, quick blitzkreig (as was predicted by Hannity and others on the right), everyone would be running to US dollars.

But the answer is NO and the war has proven to ruin its economy.

Recession is looming nearer each day.

Saudi cannot "ditch the US Dollar" as hyleo suggests ..... 3 guesses as to what currency oil is traded in?

LOL Cyn.

If the paper becomes worthless (relatively speaking) they could easily change over time and start pricing in Euros or some other strong currency. Americas influence is dictated by it's status as a reserve currency, with many middle east and far east (China especially) holding huge pots of dollars (well over a trillion I believe). As the dollar declines the value of those reserves dwindle. Just as Britain was once "great" and sterling a major currency now over a centry ago, the US too will gradually fade. It won't happen overnight of course, but civilisations rise and fall over the centries and I suspect America will go the way of many before it, probably to be replaced by China.

In my opinion.

Strawbs.

technically i dare say you are correct, but in practice, what will happen i am sure, is that the price of crude will just escalate in $ terms ...... the same effectively applies to shipping rates, where there are two variable carges that are applied - CAF (currency) and BAF (bunkering)

I think that decades from now we will see only 4 currencies in the world of any real value.
Euro, US Dollar, Austro-Asian dollar and Islamic world Dollar.
South America would live with the US, Eastern Europe would be Euro, as would the bulk of Africa. Pacific nations would be with the Austro-Asian buck and parts of North Africa and the whole of the gulf region would deal in the Islamic Dollar.
Far fetched? Might be, but 100 years ago no-one would have predicted world banks and multi national currencies.
Back to my sci-fi books...................
Alan

Cynic, you would be wrong to say that the Middle East would not be keeping their distance from the US Dollar. This year Kuwait switched to a basket of currencies, including the dollar, euro, yen and sterling. Since the switch, Kuwaits dinar has strengthened about 5 per cent against the dollar.

And currently, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Yemen and Oman will be considering the option of diverting their Riyal to other currencies apart from the US Dollar.

I did here to the effect that the gulf countries were uneasy about Oil being priced in Dollars on the World Service the other day, can't remember what they were going to do about it though.

Seems things are not hunky-dory with their dollar link either:

Gulf states 'must break dollar link'
http://www.gulfnews.com/business/Economy/10170189.html