and here we go.......the rollercoaster that is the DOW is having a panic attack, down over 500.

[a kennedy]

Why now may I ask??? I know it’ll go back up, but yikes……seems so up and down more then I ever remember it.

[EYESORE 9001]

1. Fasten your seat belt. It's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Until the capitalistas who own every fucking thing shake some sense into the MAGAt caucus in the House, we’re gonna see a nosedive of epic proportions the closer we get to defaulting on the national debt.

[a kennedy]

5. Right.......the National Debt causing this panic.

[Beastly Boy]

2. A 1.64% decline. Compare that to 10/19 1987

Dow down over 500, a 22% decline. Panicking over 500 point declines is so last century!.

[PJMcK]

3. That day changed my life

And not in a good way.

It took decades to recover.

[a kennedy]

4. Right......and I remember that one. I was working in the Marketing Dept our our State University

and I swear all the faculty were gonna commit suicide. 😂 and not really, but you are right, percentage wise that was the worst in my life time.

[Beastly Boy]

6. I found it kind of funny.

That was the "greed is good" period. I remember (I worked near NY's financial district at the time) all the full of shit monopoly money millionaires walking around like they own the world, constantly congratulating themselves and conspicuously displaying all the trinkets their imaginary profits could buy. The expression on their faces after the crash was priceless.

[Hortensis]

13. So true. I often think this as the media report 1% "panics."

A sick kid had me doing temp jobs that year, and on that day I was in the bond department of a big downtown L.A. financial firm scribbling tickets for a group of traders, stock traders were next floor down. It was always intense anyway, but! Feeling the pulse of the planet was what I liked about being there, and it was certainly bounding that day.

[Bonx]

7. 'Why now may I ask???'

"U.S. stocks were in a downswing Tuesday to start a busy holiday-shortened week as investors weighed earnings letdowns from big-box retailers and considered the prospect of higher-for-longer interest rates."
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-today-february-21-2023-110046104.html

[HeartachesNhangovers]

8. As of now, the Dow is flat for the year, but the S&P500 (better match for me) is up over 4% YTD.

You can also get a 4% medium-term CD at lots of places. I'd be satisfied with an overall 4% gain each year, as long as inflation stays at current levels.

[unc70]

11. S&P is down for last 12 months

YTD is currently too short a period for an annual comparison. The past twelve months has been down for all the equity markets.

[HeartachesNhangovers]

16. The OP is about today's performance, so in that context, YTD provides 51 times as much data.

But the real point, which we probably agree on, is that today's performance shouldn't matter much. Retail investors need to have an outlook and investment plan that matches their goals. If you needed the money that you "lost" today in the DOW for some short-term purpose, then you had it invested in the wrong place.

[BannonsLiver]

9. This is a terrific DU Doomy thread

Response 1 is a chef's kiss. That's how you doom people!

[edhopper]

10. Getting better returns from interest

And safer. People move their money from stocks to bonds, cds, etc...

Be diversified.

[MissB]

12. diversification is the best way to hedge - and the rates on I bonds has been good. I think the rate

resets in April, but if one were to buy I bonds before the end date of the current rate, then the rate is good for 6 months.

CDs haven't been bad lately either.

[edhopper]

14. I got over 4% recently

I'll take that any day

[blogslug]

15. I know nothing about the stock market

I did notice that Tesla is now under $200 a share, which was supposed to be a bad thing.