Click here for Bugatti Veyron site: http://www.bugatti.com/en/veyron-16.4.html
Friday, December 12, 2008
Bugatti Veyron (Jacked this from the BBC/Ice Cream Blog)
Click here for Bugatti Veyron site: http://www.bugatti.com/en/veyron-16.4.html
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Bellarmine-Valley Christian winner could get State Bowl bid (San Jose Mercury News)
By Dennis Knight
Mercury News
Posted: 12/02/2008 07:39:07 PM PST
With a chance at a State Bowl bid on the line, Friday night's Central Coast Section Open Division football final between Bellarmine College Prep and Valley Christian takes on even greater importance.
Bellarmine (11-1), which is No. 3 in the Northern California State Bowl Game Division I rankings compiled by Cal-Hi Sports editor Mark Tennis, probably will need some help to earn a bid. The State Bowl format has been expanded to include an Open Division game this season, opening up an extra slot for teams. But the Bells are ranked behind Concord's De La Salle and Grant of Sacramento and need to beat Valley Christian and hope that one of the teams ahead of them loses.
De La Salle (10-1), the favorite for the Open Division berth, is playing in a North Coast Section semifinal Friday against Foothill of Pleasanton, a team De La Salle beat 63-7 during the regular season. Grant (12-0) is playing in a Sac-Joaquin Section final against Burbank, which Grant defeated 35-13 in the regular season.
"Bellarmine will have people arguing for them if they win. But if both teams win, Bellarmine still has that blemish on their record, even though they came back to beat Serra in the playoffs," Tennis said. "Bellarmine can argue that they have a tougher schedule — and their league is certainly tougher and their playoffs are a little stronger — but that loss may have cost them a shot at a State Bowl."
However, if Valley Christian (10-2) defeats the Bells, it looks as if the Warriors would travel to the Home Depot Center in Carson for the Division II championship game.
Valley Christian is ranked No. 1 in NorCal Division II ahead of Casa Roble of Orangevale and St. Mary's-Stockton.
"If Valley Christian wins, it's a slam dunk for them over St. Mary's," Tennis said. "It's not as clear over Casa Roble, but Valley Christian has a much tougher strength of schedule."
Warriors Coach Mike Machado said his team isn't looking past Bellarmine.
"That would be like putting the star on the Christmas tree before you put the lights on," he said. "We're not looking past Friday. If it works out, we'll go from there. This is going to be a good matchup between two teams that know each other very well."
The San Jose State baseball team has signed pitchers Blake McFarland (Leigh High School/Santa Barbara Community College) and David Luna (Piedmont Hills/Ohlone College) and infielder-pitcher Tyler Christian (Leigh).
Fresh from election victory, high-speed rail backers look to Obama and D.C. Democrats for next funding wave (San Jose Mercury News)
Conceptual rendering of the California High-Speed Rail.
Tracy neighborhood shocked by kidnapping, torture allegations (San Jose Mercury News)
Michael Luther Schumacher, suspected of keeping a teenager prisoner for the past year in Tracy, Calif. (San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office)
Kelly Layne Law, accused of holding a teenager captive for the past year in Tracy, Calif. (San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office)
Caren Ramirez is being sought by police in connection with the kidnapping of a teenage boy in Tracy. (San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office)
TRACY — The teenage boy stumbled into the sprawling fitness club wearing only boxer shorts and a heavy chain padlocked to his ankle. Covered in dried blood, bruises, burns, feces and urine, he begged the club's assistant manager to hide him, then curled into a fetal position under the front counter and kept saying, over and over, "They're going to come find me."
Kidnapping and torture weren't supposed to happen in Northern California's second safest city, not on a quiet street where hundreds of children walk to Williams Elementary School, not behind a sports complex where hundreds of adults work out to stay fit.
But a day after the 17-year-old boy managed to jump across a fence and pleaded for help at the In-Shape Sports Club, the purported secrets of 630 Tennis Lane began to leak out. Tuesday, neighbors and residents struggled to accept the news: The boy had been held at the house for at least a year, beaten, chained and apparently burned, according to police.
It was even harder to understand for the neighbors who know Kelly Layne Lau, 30, and Michael Schumacher, 34, the couple who lived at the Tennis Lane home and now are being held on suspicion of torture, kidnapping, false imprisonment and child endangerment. Those neighbors had seen the boy, who has not been named, playing with the couple's four children in the front yard, setting out the trash and even carrying out used Pampers.
"You'd look outside and she'd be watering the lawn and the kids would all be playing," said Rachel Portillo, 47, who lives directly across the street from Lau and Schumacher and has known them since the couple moved in about two years ago.
The teenage boy "seemed to arrive at the house like a friend," Portillo said.
"They said it was a friend's son, they said he'd be going in about a month, then it was three months, then six months, then November. I always wondered 'why isn't he going to school?' "
Tracy police said it was about 3:30 p.m. Monday when the boy stumbled into the sprawling fitness club. "I thought it was a prank costume," said Lea Leonardo, the assistant manager, who came to his aid. "He was so dirty and had the chain around his foot. His feet were swollen, he was terrified and cold. He kept saying 'they're going to come find me.' He kept saying that over and over."
The teen said he was in a foster home, but ran away because he wanted to be with his family, said Chuck Ellis, the club manager.
"He was apparently picked up by these people, who had him over a year," Ellis said.
Leonardo called 911 and police arrived to find the boy wrapped in towels because he was shivering so hard. Officers immediately sealed off 630 Tennis Lane, which is in front of the side parking lot of the sports complex.
They arrested Lau and Schumacher and placed their four children in protective custody. Schumacher is a contractor with Comcast Cable, according to Tracy police. Lau's MySpace page says she is a stay-at-home mom. She also is a Girl Scout leader.
Tuesday evening, Berkeley police arrested a woman named Caren Ramirez, 43, who is believed to be the boy's aunt and had stayed at the Tennis Lane home off and on. According to court records, Ramirez was convicted in 2007 in Sacramento County of one felony count of inflicting corporal injury on a child. Police said they believed she was headed to her brother's house in East Palo Alto but she was still at large late Tuesday.
It is unknown what role if any she played in the torture and apparent imprisonment of the teenage boy.
Portillo's daughter, Marina Alvarez, was friends with Lau and said she was told that Ramirez and the boy were at the house because he had gotten into trouble and caused Ramirez to lose her home. She said the woman was called Carmine, not Caren, by Lau and Schumacher. Alvarez said the boy was called Kyle.
"Supposedly Carmine (Caren) was going to court because of Kyle," she said.
Portillo said Lau and Schumacher often held garage sales and would sit in the driveway. The teenager would be with them, but he seemed shy and withdrawn.
"He never went away," never went anywhere, she said. "He'd come out and cut the lawn but they'd have the blinds open. I think he was being watched."
Portillo said her 11-year-old granddaughter spent the night at Lau and Schumacher's house one night. The girl told her grandmother that the boy they knew as Kyle slept at night "on a piece of carpet in front of the door to the garage."
The neighbor also said Lau would curse the teenage boy.
Finding out the boy had allegedly been kidnapped and tortured, that he escaped with a heavy chain padlocked to his ankle "just blew me away," Alvarez said. Lau "made it seem like he was this troubled kid that needed to be disciplined."
Early news reports of the boy's fate prompted a flurry of calls with help Tuesday, including a call to Bay Area News Group reporter Mike Martinez from a Santa Clara County man who said he wanted to "foster the child for the holidays."
The boy remains in serious condition at Sutter Tracy Community Hospital.
And a town — named just last week as the second safest city in Northern California by CQ Press — was left to wonder why.
"We met him, my grandkids played with him in the front yard," Portillo said. "It angers me and it hurts me. I feel so badly."
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
A Giant Night To Remember
About a year ago I went to a Giants vs. Dodgers game at AT&T and I caught a foul ball. Sweet.
On the way to Berkeley, CA (Random Blackberry Pics)
Pictured above: The Oracle Arena "Home of the Golden State Warriors" off of that 880 Northbound.
Pictured above: The Oracle Arena "Home of the Golden State Warriors" off of that 880 Northbound.
Pictured above: Entering Berkeley, CA.
Guess who's bizzzack...
I have been slacking on the blog spot. October is always a weird month. Well I am in Seattle, Washington today, tomorrow I am in Las Vegas, Nevada. Holla!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Wall Street: Fall of the fat cats
Pictured above: Jordan Belfort"'I was a crook,' says Jordan Belfort, once a Wall Street fat cat who made $1 million a week before going to jail."
By Abbie Boudreau, David Fitzpatrick and Scott Zamost - CNN SIU
NEW YORK (CNN) -- In the midst of Wall Street's agonizing slide last week, there was at least one place in Manhattan where the liquor was flowing, the cigar smoke was billowing and the theme of the evening was simple: Work hard. Play hard.
"It's like fiddling. Nero fiddled while Rome burned," said Thomas Graf, vice president and producer of Northmarq Capital. "We're smoking cigars while we're losing our shirts, literally."
He was among hundreds of mid-level Wall Street executives and traders gathered for a party thrown by Cigar Report magazine, published by New York-based Doubledown Media.
And if they seemed a little tone-deaf about how this kind of event could be perceived as millions of dollars were lost, at least on paper, most did not seem especially concerned.
"It is a great time," said Adam Marsh of Empire Capital Partners. "I think for at least a couple of hours in the evening, we can kind of sit back, have a few drinks, forget what's facing us on the Street tomorrow."
Few of the men and women at the party earned millions in Wall Street bonuses on top of their salaries. But nearly all did very well, they say, at the top of the Wall Street bubble. And their bosses, along with those who managed Wall Street hedge funds, did even better.
"These guys were spending more than $250 billion a year," Robert Frank said. "They bought mansions in Greenwich and Palm Beach. They bought art for $100 million a painting." Frank, author of "Richistan," says the enormous amounts of money earned by Wall Street elite made them practically a nation unto themselves.
"They just looked at the guy with the bigger house, the nicer Ferrari, the better artwork," he said. "And it was all competitive spending."
One prominent example is the CEO of Lehman Brothers, Richard Fuld. In 2007 alone, according to the executive compensation firm Equilar, he earned total take-home compensation of more than $45 million in salary and bonuses.
Congressional researchers said he earned nearly $500 million from 2000 through 2007.
Fuld told Congress that the failure of his company centered on inaction on the part of government and a loss of confidence in the financial markets.
"This is a pain that will stay with me for the rest of my life, regardless of what comes out of this committee, regardless of when the record books get written," Fuld told Congress during a recent hearing.
Not every Wall Street executive played by the books.
Jordan Belfort was once chairman of a brokerage firm called Stratton Oakmont. In the early to mid-'90s, he called himself the Wolf of Wall Street.
He was jailed on federal charges of securities fraud and money laundering. He spent 22 months behind bars and was released in 2005.
"I was a crook," Belfort said.
At one time, he says, he was earning more than $1 million a week. Now, he has been ordered to pay back $110 million to his victims, and he said he is working on that.
Even the man who first chronicled Wall Street excess to a national audience can barely believe what has happened.
Oliver Stone, who wrote and directed the film "Wall Street" 21 years ago, says the main character in his story, unprincipled stockbroker Gordon Gekko, has been overtaken by reality.
"I never thought it would go to this level," Stone told CNN's Larry King. "I thought the Gordon Gekkos of the world would die out. But they got worse."
So what exactly did the new Gordon Gekkos do to earn those fabulous sums?
"What they really did was to figure out new and clever ways of investing," Frank said. "Of creating financial products that very few of us could understand."
"On Wall Street, there's no cost. The only cost is the employees, the executives," said Andy Serwer, managing editor of Fortune magazine. "So if a firm is creating a financial product that it can sell for $5 million, the person who sells it will get $2 million."
But people who earned relatively little on Wall Street are now paying the price as well.
Win Hornig, a 25-year-old Minnesotan who worked at both Bear Stearns and J.P. Morgan, is now out of a job. He's launched a Web site called BankerGoneBroke.com to talk about it.
"My life was basically a disaster," Hornig said. "I was working all the time, didn't have a lot to show for it. I came to the conclusion that there was more to life than money."
While it lasted, the good times on Wall Street made money for traders and, of course, for Americans who had invested in the stock market, mainly through their 401(k) contributions. But there is a "new normal" these days.
"The party is over on Wall Street -- until it comes back again," Serwer said. "I've been around long enough to see that we have these cycles. These guys get their cigars and champagne. They have a great time. The whole thing blows up. But then they re-emerge years later. This one is a really, really bad one. But I don't think Wall Street is dead."
(Courtesy of Wall Street Journal)
"Pure Beauty Yo" - Roselyn Sanchez
Nickname: Popi Ros
Height: 5' 5" (1.65 m)
Spouse: Gary Stretch (1998 - 2001) (divorced)
Height: 5' 5" (1.65 m)
Spouse: Gary Stretch (1998 - 2001) (divorced)
(Courtesy of IMDB)
Kanye You F'ing Genius!! - JESSICA CIRIO
Jessica Wanda Judith Cirio (born March 21, 1985 in Lanús, Buenos Aires Province) is an Argentine model and dancer. She has appeared on the Argentine reality show Cámara en Mano as well as pictorial spreads in Revista Hombre.
She is the host of 'Kubik', a TV programme broadcast in La Plata's America 2. She also took part in two popular Argentine-version contests 'Dancing with the stars' and 'Dancing on Ice'. Jesica currently resides in Puerto Madero neighbourhood in Buenos Aires.
(Courtesy of Wikipedia)
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
91-0!!
"ESTERO, Fla. - The Estero High football staff gathered in head coach Rich Dombroski's office late Friday, almost in stunned silence.Earlier that night, Estero lost to Naples High by 13.
Not by 13 points. By 13 touchdowns. That's right: Naples 91, Estero 0."
(Courtesy of the Associated Press)
Click here for full article: http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=862709
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Profile: OJ Simpson (Courtesy of BBC News) - Dayum!
"The story of Orenthal James - "OJ" - Simpson is that of the fall of a hero."
OJ Simpson is once again making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Convicted of armed robbery and conspiracy to kidnap by a Las Vegas district court, Simpson may be facing life imprisonment 13 years to the day after being cleared of the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
That trial started in 1995 and containing the blockbuster ingredients of money, murder and sex, gripped the country for an entire year.
OJ's latest court appearance in a trial that lasted less than three weeks attracted much less interest - until the verdict was announced late on Friday 3 October.
Heaving a heavy sigh as the charges were read, could the once all-American football hero and Hollywood star have been reflecting on the broken shards of his once-charmed life?
Turning point
Before 1994, Simpson was regarded with affection by the public, well known as a professional athlete, actor and million-dollar spokesman for several US companies.
Things appeared to always work out for "the Juice". He had gone from the San Francisco ghetto, where he grew up, to a home in the wealthy boulevards of West Los Angeles via a glittering American football career.
It all changed when he became the main suspect in his ex-wife's murder. Millions of Americans watched as the police chased his white Bronco car for 90 minutes live on TV. He finally gave himself up outside his LA home.
Throughout his career OJ had worked hard to rise above race and become an all-American hero.
In 1969, in an interview with the New York Times, he stated that his biggest accomplishment was that "people looked at me like a man, not a black man".
But years later, in the courtroom, the issue of his colour could not be ignored.
His lawyer Johnnie Cochran was accused of playing the "race card" to a largely black jury after suggesting that police had planted evidence in an attempt to frame Simpson because he was a black superstar.
And the verdict divided US opinion along racial lines. There was widespread outrage among white Americans after Simpson walked free.
The trial led many to ask the question: Who was the real OJ Simpson?
There was no denying that he had been very much loved by the public who viewed him as gentle, generous, hard-working and charismatic. He and Nicole Brown, whom he married in 1985, played the perfect, handsome couple.
But the court case threw up a darker side, with the prosecution's emphasis on Simpson's violent relationship with his ex-wife.
There was the now-infamous incident of New Year's Day 1989 when police were summoned to their home to find Nicole outside, her eye blackened and her lip bloodied. She fell into an officer's arms, sobbing and screaming: "He's going to kill me."
Nicole decided not to press charges, but the city attorney went ahead and prosecuted OJ for spousal battery. He was fined and given two years' probation.
The couple remained together for another three volatile years before they divorced.
All-American hero
Simpson was born in 1947. He was a bow-legged child who had rickets, but was able to escape the San Francisco slums by the fact that he was an extremely good runner. He eventually went on to become one of the top running backs in American football history.
He attended the University of Southern California, where he was named the country's top college football player in 1968. He then moved to Buffalo, New York, where he spent most of his career.
In 1979, he was forced to retire due to injuries. By then, however, he was making his mark as a Hollywood actor.
Between 1973 and 1994, he appeared in more than 20 films including The Towering Inferno and the Naked Gun films. He also won some lucrative television advertising deals.
After the 1995 trial, things were never the same for Simpson. He was later found liable for the deaths in a civil trial brought by the Brown and Goldman family and ordered to pay them $33.5m in damages.
This money has not been paid, and OJ has remained out of work because any money earned would have to be handed over to the Brown and Goldman family. He does, however, receive a pension from his sporting career.
He has pursued a relatively quiet life, playing golf and focusing on his four children - two from his first marriage to a childhood sweetheart in the 1960s and two from his marriage to Nicole.
Last year, he was back in the spotlight, after a deal $3.5m ($1.8m) he reached with Rupert Murdoch's broadcasting and publishing companies sparked public outrage.
The deal included the publication of Simpson's ghost-written, "hypothetical" account of the murders, If I Did It, as well as an interview for Fox TV.
The project was shelved at the time, but this year, a court in Florida awarded the rights of the book to the Goldman family, partly to satisfy the unpaid civil judgement.
It was published by an American company in September.
(Coutesy of BBC News)
Police: Man shot prostitute in the back because she got tired
Bakersfield Californian
Article Launched: 10/06/2008 01:22:39 PM PDT
A 20-year-old man shot a prostitute in the back because she got tired after having sex for 10 minutes, according to a recently released search warrant.
Ryan Graham and the victim agreed to a deal of $20 for sex in the west alley of the 200 block of T Street in Bakersfield on Sept. 17, police said.
The 26-year-old woman got tired after having sex for 10 minutes in the vehicle, according to the court document. The suspect got mad and shot her in the back as she left the vehicle, the document says.
The woman suffered a collapsed lung and was taken to Kern Medical Center, the warrant said. She was not identified because she fears for her safety.
Another prostitute gave police a description of the suspect's vehicle. Officers found the automobile in the 400 block of Eye Street.
Police went to the home and interviewed Graham, who identified himself as Nigel Patterson, the search warrant said. Graham then ran through the back door and was caught after a short chase.
Graham was taken to the medical center and the victim identified him as the shooter, police said. Graham grimaced and shook his head in a negative manner in an attempt to intimidate the victim, the court document said.
Police have taken a DNA sample from Graham.
Graham is facing several charges including attempted murder, assault with a firearm on a person and preventing/dissuading a victim/witness, according to Kern County Superior Court records.
Article Launched: 10/06/2008 01:22:39 PM PDT
A 20-year-old man shot a prostitute in the back because she got tired after having sex for 10 minutes, according to a recently released search warrant.
Ryan Graham and the victim agreed to a deal of $20 for sex in the west alley of the 200 block of T Street in Bakersfield on Sept. 17, police said.
The 26-year-old woman got tired after having sex for 10 minutes in the vehicle, according to the court document. The suspect got mad and shot her in the back as she left the vehicle, the document says.
The woman suffered a collapsed lung and was taken to Kern Medical Center, the warrant said. She was not identified because she fears for her safety.
Another prostitute gave police a description of the suspect's vehicle. Officers found the automobile in the 400 block of Eye Street.
Police went to the home and interviewed Graham, who identified himself as Nigel Patterson, the search warrant said. Graham then ran through the back door and was caught after a short chase.
Graham was taken to the medical center and the victim identified him as the shooter, police said. Graham grimaced and shook his head in a negative manner in an attempt to intimidate the victim, the court document said.
Police have taken a DNA sample from Graham.
Graham is facing several charges including attempted murder, assault with a firearm on a person and preventing/dissuading a victim/witness, according to Kern County Superior Court records.
(Courtesy of San Jose Mercury News)
Jackin' from Kanye's Blog - SpY
"SpY is an artist from Madrid whose art consists in the playful reappropiation of urban elements, that he replicates or transforms and then installs in the street."Go check out his website: http://spy.org.es/
San Francisco, California
Got out of town this weekend and went up to San Francisco. Gotdelmit, had a great time. Did shopping downtown and checked out the "dark side" of Frisco. Good times. Great city!!Empyre Ashton Black Herringbone Jacket - Exclusively at Zumiez? (I need info)
"Game on in this Empyre Ashton Jacket! Features include hood with adjustable drawstrings, tall ribbed collar, front zip pockets that include headphone port, zip chest pocket for storage, ribbed waistband, adjustable cuffs and graphic Empyre lining."Citigroup sues Wachovia, Wells Fargo for $60 billion
By Sara Lepro
Associated Press
Article Launched: 10/06/2008 09:53:05 AM PDT
NEW YORK — Citigroup has filed a complaint in New York Supreme Court against Wachovia, Wells Fargo and the directors of both companies seeking more than $60 billion in damages for interfering with the bank's planned takeover of Wachovia's banking operations.
The complaint seeks more than $20 billion in compensatory damages and more than $40 billion in punitive damages from Wells Fargo for tortious interference. Citigroup also seeks relief from Wachovia for its bad faith breach of the banks' contract.
Citigroup and Wachovia are battling a separate case in federal court.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve officials have been in talks with Wells Fargo and Citigroup in the hope of getting the parties to come to some sort of agreement, according to a person with knowledge of the talks. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter.
Associated Press
Article Launched: 10/06/2008 09:53:05 AM PDT
NEW YORK — Citigroup has filed a complaint in New York Supreme Court against Wachovia, Wells Fargo and the directors of both companies seeking more than $60 billion in damages for interfering with the bank's planned takeover of Wachovia's banking operations.
The complaint seeks more than $20 billion in compensatory damages and more than $40 billion in punitive damages from Wells Fargo for tortious interference. Citigroup also seeks relief from Wachovia for its bad faith breach of the banks' contract.
Citigroup and Wachovia are battling a separate case in federal court.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve officials have been in talks with Wells Fargo and Citigroup in the hope of getting the parties to come to some sort of agreement, according to a person with knowledge of the talks. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter.
(Courtesy of San Jose Mercury News)
Wall Street tanking amid global sell-off
By Joe Bel Bruno
Associated Press
Article Launched: 10/06/2008 06:48:39 AM PDT
Financial markets took a bleak view of the future today, seeing contagion in a credit crisis that threatens to cascade through economies globally despite government efforts to provide relief. The Dow Jones industrials skidded around 600 points and fell below 10,000 for the first time in four years, while the credit markets remained under strain.
Investors around the world have come to the sobering realization that the Bush administration's $700 billion rescue plan won't work quickly to unfreeze the credit markets. Global banks, hobbled by wrong-way bets on mortgage securities, remain starved for cash as credit has dried up.
That has sent stocks spiraling downward in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and driven investors to sink money into the relative safety of U.S. government debt. Fears about a global recession also caused oil to drop below $90 a barrel.
"The fact is people are scared and the only thing they're doing is selling," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "Investors are cleaning out portfolios and getting rid of everything because nothing seems to be working."
The selling was so extreme that only 98 stocks rose on the NYSE — and 3,114 dropped. That's a telling sign considering the stock market is considered a leading economic indicator, with investors tending to buy and sell based on where they believe the economy will be in six to nine months.
Today's steep decline on Wall Street indicates that investors are becoming more convinced that the country is leading a prolonged economic crisis that is spreading to other nations. Over the weekend, governments across Europe rushed to prop up failing banks, while the governments of Germany, Ireland and Greece also said they would guarantee bank deposits.
As the U.S. tries to repair its battered banking system, the German government and financial industry agreed on a $68 billion bailout for commercial-property lender Hypo Real Estate Holding AG. And France's BNP Paribas agreed to acquire a 75 percent stake in Fortis's Belgium bank after a government rescue failed.
The Fed also took fresh steps to help ease credit markets. The central bank said today it will begin paying interest on commercial banks' reserves and will expand its loan program to squeezed banks.
Joseph V. Battipaglia, chief investment officer at Ryan Beck & Co., said government intervention certainly might help. However, he believes investors are sensing that what's happening in the economy is a shift in the extent to which consumers and businesses take on debt, a change that will take years to play out.
"This is a global deleveraging of many economies," he said. "It might appear that you're going into the abyss where the economy grinds to a halt and the financial system goes into complete disarray. But, what the market is really reading here is that this is a global phenomenon, and when you delever like this, it is a process that takes a very long period of time measured in years, not quarters."
That, he said, is being reflected in major stock indexes being repriced significantly lower. In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 593.61, or 5.75 percent, to 9,731.77, dropping below 10,000 for the first time since Oct. 29, 2004. At one point, the Dow was down more than 600.
Broader indexes also tumbled. The Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 70.28, or 6.39 percent, to 1,028.95; and the Nasdaq composite index fell 137.38, or 7.05 percent, to 1,810.01. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies dropped 41.45, or 6.69 percent, to 577.95.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 closed 4.25 percent lower. Europe's stock markets also declined, with the FTSE-100 down 5.20 percent, Germany's DAX down 7.07 percent, and France's CAC-40 down 9.04 percent.
The anxiety was again obvious in the credit markets. The yield on the three-month Treasury bill slipped to 0.42 percent from 0.50 percent late Friday. Demand for bills remains high because of their safety; investors are willing to take extremely low returns just to have their money in a secure place.
Investors also moved into longer-term Treasury bonds. The yield on the 10-year note fell to 3.49 percent from 3.60 percent late Friday.
Anthony Sabino, a professor of law and business at St. John's University, said the "market is displaying one of its worst traits with a herd mentality, and investors have an appetite for feeding on fear." He cautions that, while there are deep economic and financial problems being faced, it is still not a nightmare scenario.
"Most certainly, this is not the Great Depression of the 1930s, but (is like) the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s — and we bailed them out," he said. "Once people catch their breath, they'll see this is the proper analogy and this will breathe life back into banking institutions."
Banks' hesitation to lend to one another and to many businesses and individuals is the result of the bad mortgage debt that the financial rescue is supposed to sweep up. But it's still unclear how quickly financial institutions will be able to hand that debt to the U.S. government and convince the markets they are healthy again.
There has been some hope that perhaps the Fed, in concert with other central banks, might cut interest rates to help stimulate the economy. With oil prices well off their midsummer highs and indicators pointing to a slower economy, the Fed's worries about inflation are less than they had been, making it easier to justify a rate cut.
Investors might get some indication about a potential rate cut with several policymakers slated to speak this week. Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans will speak on the U.S. economy ontoday. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to speak on Tuesday.
Frederick Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co., believes investors are eager for any signs about the well-being of the economy. He doesn't believe that will happen until Wall Street overhauls its expectations for growth of corporate earnings and the overall economy.
"Wall Street at this point is shifting its attention from whether Congress was going to act on the emergency stabilization bill to the realization that the economy is slowing significantly faster than most analysts had expected," he said. "The downturn has shifted from first gear to about third gear in about two weeks."
Associated Press
Article Launched: 10/06/2008 06:48:39 AM PDT
Financial markets took a bleak view of the future today, seeing contagion in a credit crisis that threatens to cascade through economies globally despite government efforts to provide relief. The Dow Jones industrials skidded around 600 points and fell below 10,000 for the first time in four years, while the credit markets remained under strain.
Investors around the world have come to the sobering realization that the Bush administration's $700 billion rescue plan won't work quickly to unfreeze the credit markets. Global banks, hobbled by wrong-way bets on mortgage securities, remain starved for cash as credit has dried up.
That has sent stocks spiraling downward in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and driven investors to sink money into the relative safety of U.S. government debt. Fears about a global recession also caused oil to drop below $90 a barrel.
"The fact is people are scared and the only thing they're doing is selling," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "Investors are cleaning out portfolios and getting rid of everything because nothing seems to be working."
The selling was so extreme that only 98 stocks rose on the NYSE — and 3,114 dropped. That's a telling sign considering the stock market is considered a leading economic indicator, with investors tending to buy and sell based on where they believe the economy will be in six to nine months.
Today's steep decline on Wall Street indicates that investors are becoming more convinced that the country is leading a prolonged economic crisis that is spreading to other nations. Over the weekend, governments across Europe rushed to prop up failing banks, while the governments of Germany, Ireland and Greece also said they would guarantee bank deposits.
As the U.S. tries to repair its battered banking system, the German government and financial industry agreed on a $68 billion bailout for commercial-property lender Hypo Real Estate Holding AG. And France's BNP Paribas agreed to acquire a 75 percent stake in Fortis's Belgium bank after a government rescue failed.
The Fed also took fresh steps to help ease credit markets. The central bank said today it will begin paying interest on commercial banks' reserves and will expand its loan program to squeezed banks.
Joseph V. Battipaglia, chief investment officer at Ryan Beck & Co., said government intervention certainly might help. However, he believes investors are sensing that what's happening in the economy is a shift in the extent to which consumers and businesses take on debt, a change that will take years to play out.
"This is a global deleveraging of many economies," he said. "It might appear that you're going into the abyss where the economy grinds to a halt and the financial system goes into complete disarray. But, what the market is really reading here is that this is a global phenomenon, and when you delever like this, it is a process that takes a very long period of time measured in years, not quarters."
That, he said, is being reflected in major stock indexes being repriced significantly lower. In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 593.61, or 5.75 percent, to 9,731.77, dropping below 10,000 for the first time since Oct. 29, 2004. At one point, the Dow was down more than 600.
Broader indexes also tumbled. The Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 70.28, or 6.39 percent, to 1,028.95; and the Nasdaq composite index fell 137.38, or 7.05 percent, to 1,810.01. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies dropped 41.45, or 6.69 percent, to 577.95.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 closed 4.25 percent lower. Europe's stock markets also declined, with the FTSE-100 down 5.20 percent, Germany's DAX down 7.07 percent, and France's CAC-40 down 9.04 percent.
The anxiety was again obvious in the credit markets. The yield on the three-month Treasury bill slipped to 0.42 percent from 0.50 percent late Friday. Demand for bills remains high because of their safety; investors are willing to take extremely low returns just to have their money in a secure place.
Investors also moved into longer-term Treasury bonds. The yield on the 10-year note fell to 3.49 percent from 3.60 percent late Friday.
Anthony Sabino, a professor of law and business at St. John's University, said the "market is displaying one of its worst traits with a herd mentality, and investors have an appetite for feeding on fear." He cautions that, while there are deep economic and financial problems being faced, it is still not a nightmare scenario.
"Most certainly, this is not the Great Depression of the 1930s, but (is like) the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s — and we bailed them out," he said. "Once people catch their breath, they'll see this is the proper analogy and this will breathe life back into banking institutions."
Banks' hesitation to lend to one another and to many businesses and individuals is the result of the bad mortgage debt that the financial rescue is supposed to sweep up. But it's still unclear how quickly financial institutions will be able to hand that debt to the U.S. government and convince the markets they are healthy again.
There has been some hope that perhaps the Fed, in concert with other central banks, might cut interest rates to help stimulate the economy. With oil prices well off their midsummer highs and indicators pointing to a slower economy, the Fed's worries about inflation are less than they had been, making it easier to justify a rate cut.
Investors might get some indication about a potential rate cut with several policymakers slated to speak this week. Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans will speak on the U.S. economy ontoday. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to speak on Tuesday.
Frederick Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co., believes investors are eager for any signs about the well-being of the economy. He doesn't believe that will happen until Wall Street overhauls its expectations for growth of corporate earnings and the overall economy.
"Wall Street at this point is shifting its attention from whether Congress was going to act on the emergency stabilization bill to the realization that the economy is slowing significantly faster than most analysts had expected," he said. "The downturn has shifted from first gear to about third gear in about two weeks."
(Courtesy of San Jose Mercury News)
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