What can you say after weeks of stock market losses? It’s sad, awful, ridiculous and downright scary for a lot of folks. And if you’re like most people these days, you’ve just stopped looking at it. Why bother, right? Maybe you’re a long term investor, and nothing that happens now really matters over the short term anyway. Or maybe the words “long term investor” don’t mean very much right now. Or maybe after feeling stressed from watching days of hundred point losses, it just doesn’t make sense anymore.
So is there anything we can really do about it?  Not unless it bothers you so much that you can’t sleep and your life’s a wreck. Most people in that situation have already sold out long ago.  Me? I’m just watching in rapt amazement at the carnage wrought by institutional selling. Hedge funds, private investors, mutual fund redemptions, tax loss selling- all are putting relentless downward pressure on stocks, dropping indexes to levels not seen in over 5-10 years.
“The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 6.7 percent to its lowest close since April 1997. The Dow Jones industrial average, meanwhile, fell 445 points, or 5.6 percent, to its lowest close since March 2003. The decline brings the Dow’s two-day drop to 873 points, or 10.6 percent, its worst two-day percentage loss since October 1987.”
I don’t know what the market or the economy is going to do in the weeks and months ahead. If I had some extra cash laying around that I didn’t need for 5 years or more, there are some incredibly cheap stocks out there.  But we are where we are… and like most of you I’m just along for the ride at this point.
So… what did I do today? I went shopping.  A local grocery chain had a great sale going on and I picked up a 20 pound turkey at .67 cents a pound- almost half price.   Then I filled up the car. Gas was around $1.69 per gallon. Is that amazing or what? And wouldn’t it be nice if gas prices stayed low for a while?  There’ll be a lot of drivers on the road next summer if gas prices stay low- especially with airline fees through the roof.  And since we’re in a cash crunch and consumers have cut back on spending, the stores are also offering all kinds of deals right now.
I’m not advocating spending money you don’t have, or investing in the market in stocks you don’t know. But if you’re in the market for a house or a car or you like a particular company as an investment, is there a better time to buy?  It’s a buyer’s market out there folks. How long it stays that way is the real question.
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