Wall Street Set to Open Lower Again

[Pototan]

The futures market is set to open lower again this morning. But the interesting thing on this link is the "mood dial" in the upper left-hand corner. It reflects the number 8, which indicates that investors are in extreme fear. I don't know about you, but "extreme fear" sounds pretty serious to me.

Link:
https://edition.cnn.com/markets/premarkets

[flamingdem]

1. Wow, they've gotten much better

So things might not be as dire as they looked a few hours ago

[Pototan]

8. I guess your reply post

didn't age well today

[flamingdem]

9. Whoa, look out below!

Terrible day.

[jmbar2]

2. pretty good little bounce so far

[Pototan]

3. Minus 143 on the Dow at 2:36 AM EDT

that's not so good following a 1,600-point drop.

I'm not rooting for a collapse. I am retired and one of my income streams is linked to the market in an annuity. So, a drop fucks me too. I'm just following the market.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Ditch the Dow 30. It was created for adding machines in early 1900s. Use the S&P 500

The Dow is only 30 stocks and it is price-weighted.

The S&P 500 is 500 stocks and it is market capitalization weighted.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. When sentiment gets extreme it sometimes means people have already made their move.

It looks like that indicator is calculated from about 7 measures. It may be less of a sentiment indicator than the VIX which is the volatility index.

The S&P futures overnight have moved between -0.91 % and -0.05 %. It may settle down more as the opening draws near. At this writing it is -0.43 %.

I would not be surprised if Friday is a bit of an up day before a decline Monday. But I don't know. It could easily be up Friday and Monday both or down both.

Some important data drops Friday (figures are estimate and previous reading from February):

8:30 am U.S. employment report March 140,000 151,000
8:30 am U.S. unemployment rate March 4.1% 4.1%
8:30 am U.S. hourly wages March 0.3% 0.3%
8:30 am Hourly wages year over year 3.9% 4.0%
11:25 am Fed Chairman Jerome Powell speaks

[DFW]

6. Spectator sport for me, though it was happier spectating a week ago

I bought some stock in 1998 and have hardly touched it since. I received “expert advice” from a major broker to ditch what had become of 500 shares of Apple bought in 1998 at $38. Following their expert advice cost me about $2 million (if I had not sold), so since then, I just watch. I no longer buy or sell. What I have left, I bought so long ago, that if I sold today, 90% of the sale would be gains and subject to a big tax bill. It’s not enough to buy a fancy Italian race car (don’t care anyway), a McMansion in a fancy neighborhood (don’t care anyway), or a small yacht (don’t care anyway), so it’s just paper. Numbers on a screen. I’ll just have to wait for the next Democratic president or die trying. I’d rather the tax bill be paid to President Buttigieg than to president Musk.

[jmbar2]

7. I bought my first shares of stock in 1985 or so

My dad was a CPA and recommended something. I don't even remember what it was. When the 1987 drop happened, he said, "Don't sell. This will pass". I was freaked out and sold at almost a total loss on a tiny little investment.

He was right. How I wish I had listened to him.