Another Black Monday??
Jul 13th, 2008 by Elaine
Hold on to your hats, Monday looks to be a wild day on Wall Street. Like many Americans my husband and I watch our investments dwindle. From IRA’s, 401K, mutual funds, and stocks down it goes. Our investments are not risky, we’re at the age where we can’t afford to be risky. But what the hell to do with what we do have? A question everyone is asking. We met with our Financial Advisor last week going over our portfolio and the advice is to hold. They always say that though, don’t they? It’s not their money. We have been pulling out some (and any new money) goes into a high yield money market account and CD’s. The interest rate is not great but at least it’s safe for the time being.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The U.S. Treasury is expected to release a statement later Sunday in support of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as the latter plans an important $3 billion securities offering Monday, according to a news report.
The Wall Street Journal cited people familiar with the matter as saying that, while the statement’s exact language was not known, it is expected to express support for the firms and reassure the markets.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported Sunday that the two lenders were in talks with the Treasury, Federal Reserve and White House officials to come up with funding plans should the beleaguered mortgage companies require financing. The report also cited people with knowledge of the discussions.
Freddie is scheduled to sell $3 billion of debt Monday, and the markets could falter again if investors balk at bidding on it. The Wall Street Journal report said Treasury officials and other regulators have been calling potential buyers of the debt over the weekend to gauge their interest and to urge them to participate.
Freddie Mac tumbled 47 percent in New York Stock Exchange composite trading last week and Washington-based Fannie Mae lost 45 percent of its value, forcing U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to pledge support for the companies. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are critical for the housing market because they guarantee almost half the $12 trillion in outstanding U.S. mortgages.
There was a time when I put that kind of “investment for the future” type of monies into my family’s property in Vermont (and trusted them to handle it properly while I was out at sea) and later, some of my own in a house that belonged to my first marriage so to speak. The property in Vermont wasn’t handled properly and the marriage went down the tubes and so did the investments.
Now, considering the state of today’s market/economy, I think I ended up being rather fortunate not to have any investments at all.
I have been thinking for a long while now that the USA & Canadian govt’s have been trying to turn us in to third world countries and now they have begun to excelerate it……back to 1929.
Our countries need to stop sending money to other countries and look after our own people first.
It continues to be a bumpy ride.
I do hope that a new political administration will give a boost to the market….