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Stock Market: A Roller Coaster Ride If you have read a newspaper once in the past two weeks, you have undoubtedly read of the global economic woes. The world has combined into one. Because of this oneness the slightest glitch in an economy (that are, surprisingly, still separate) halfway around the globe can turn into a crisis here. This entire episode perhaps started in Japan as a small snowball rolling down the hill. The farther it traveled the larger it grew, until it was impossible to miss. As this giant snowball raced downhill, it took everything in its path. The current crisis can be described in such a manner, but it would not be complete. There is still a missing piece to this jigsaw puzzle, the snowball is nearing the bottom of the hill, and at the very bottom sits the United States of America. Although this situation will affect the U.S. soon, it has not done much damage yet. The world’s economies are dropping like flies, but the U.S. has remained, for the greater part, unharmed. When talk of this crisis first entered the news the U.S. economy was breaking new records each day, but panicking, investors sold their shares, bringing that spree to a jarring halt. The stock market dropped more than a thousand points in a few months, wiping away all the gains made this year. The U.S. suffered a couple of percentage decrease, but it was spared the fifty-percent losses that occurred in Brazil, and other large drops in countries such as Japan and Russia. The U.S. has remained in a protective cocoon throughout this crisis. That cocoon cannot protect it for a lot longer. As the pressure builds, this barricade will fall, taking everything else down with it. Let us hope that the investors can hold up the barricade. This roller coaster has to be nerve wracking for the investors. This economic crisis has spread like the black plague, slowly but surely. If this goes on any longer we might have to send a messenger to every country saying, "Throw out your dead," like they did during the plague. Such has the state of the world been during this economic crisis. With the economies in such a woeful state, the broker must feel like a character in Greek Mythology, Atlas. They will obviously panic, and flee from the Stock Market, but only some brokers will exhibit this behavior. Although, the brokers will feel like the world is on their backs, many will stay put. Many experienced investors know when they invest, that at some point in time they are bound to face tempests like this one. The Stock Market is not consistent, a fact that we all now know all too well. Knowing this fact perfectly well, we often underestimate how unstable it is. We should remember that by investing, we are joining a high wire act, if the wire snaps it is up to us to get to the other side. Date posted : October 04, 1998. What do you think about this?
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