Where’s the bottom? Bruised investors on Wall Street keep asking the question after another brutal week of losses. But a growing sense of fear and gloom make it risky to bet that the worst is over for the shrinking US economy and stock market.
The relentless bear market savaged the Dow Jones Industrial Average of blue-chips, which fell 6.17 percent on the week to 6,626.94, just above a 12-year low.
The broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 sank to its level since 1996 over the past week, and lost 7.03 percent for the week to 683.38.
The technology-heavy NASDAQ composite fell 6.1 percent over the week to 1,293.85.
The Dow and S&P have already plunged 24 percent so far this year and the NASDAQ nearly 18 percent.
The horrific bear market has been reinforced by fears of an ever-deepening worldwide slump that has hit small and large firms alike, forcing massive job cuts and denting consumer spending as part of a downward economic spiral.
Some say the market, down over 50 percent from 2007 highs, has priced in a deep recession but may have to fall further if the slump becomes a depression — which could erase stock values by 90 percent if it follows the pattern of the 1930s.
“Investors should not rush in,” said Richard Berner, economist at Morgan Stanley. “Now that equities stand at 14-year lows and 55 percent below their October 2007 highs, they do reflect a lot of bad news — but maybe not quite enough. The further slide in production that we expect suggests that the near-term risks for earnings point down, and a rapid turnaround seems unlikely.”
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond fell back to 2.828 percent from 3.041 percent a week earlier and that on the 30-year bond eased to 3.503 percent from 3.722 percent.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique