The S&P 500 is back to even for the year to date, up 20.73% over the past year. The Dow remains down 116 points from its close on May 6 (10,520), but has bounced 473 points over the past week closing the day at 10,404.
∙ QuickLinks: A Rough Day On A Skittish Street [SocketSite]
∙ (D)ow! And Did We Say Skittish? [SocketSite]
So editor, I like you.
But guy, here’s where you go wrong – and it was debated last week. If you’re going to post headlines about the markets, you don’t get to put not-so-subtle bearish remarks next to them. “As skittishness remains…”
You will find that headline nowhere on a day when the DOW is up 200+. It sounds dumb. This isn’t your realm, SF real estate is. You’d do better without the commentary. (:
But seriously, I am a fan.
[Editor’s Note: Thanks Stan, but might we suggest revisiting the definition of skittish?]
“You will find that headline nowhere on a day when the DOW is up 200+.”
Just because other so-called journalists don’t do something doesn’t mean it’s good that they didn’t. Most of the financial press is crap. The market is indeed skittish. We’ve been seeing relatively large swings on a daily basis lately and relatively large swings over the last few weeks generally.
For a numerical indicator, check out VIX. Between 1990 and October 2008, the average for VIX was around 19. And that includes some hugely volatile periods. Currently, VIX is 25-26. And it has been a bit higher over parts of the last month. People often call VIX an indicator of fear.
Even when people criticize the editor on this, they sometimes point out that the market went up 2-2.5% on a given day, when the the posts being criticized (linked above) were pointing out 3+% drops.
The last point is that the stock market is that many people have posited that SF housing has light correlations to the stock market. It’s certainly worth noting, as in this post, that the stock market is par for the year and up 20% in the last year, if you believe there’s a correlation to housing. Anyway, you’re going to piss somebody off with any headline…
When was the last time that SocketSite suggested that real estate investors /buyers were skittish? Maybe we should see a topic surrounding that sometime. Or, is that already being implied?
the dow jones index has been very volatile lately. not sure if that’s the same as skittish.
some of the words/phrases in the “skittish” definition:
frisky, easily frightened, bashful, marked by extreme caution
sounds like a high school freshman – thanks, now i understand the stock market at long last
Never mind . . .