President Obama has done a great job of rallying previously apathetic Americans to get excited about politics. It is truly inspiring to see President Obama succeed and also get so many people energized about change in our great country. Unfortunately, the financial markets are not as exuberant about his leadership. Okay, it’s not fair to completely blame today’s market shellacking on Obama; however, it sure doesn’t start things off on the right foot. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down just over 4% at 7,949. The technical market analysts are probably ranting about the market breeching the psychologically critical 8,000 mark. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed for a large rally tomorrow (continuing through the rest of the week, month, year, etc.). A weekly close below 8,000 would really be a blow to investors’ psyche.
Not only did the public markets get a big smack today, but I also read just how dismal the IPO market was in 2008. A measly six companies went public in 2008, producing less than $500 million in total market value. Ouch and ouch on the performance of public and private equity markets. Hopefully things will get better soon. Otherwise, investors will be sticking all their money underneath their mattresses (where returns probably won’t be as bad as -35% annually). At least it’s not Monday…
