Are These "Once In A Lifetime" Moves?

by: Bespoke Investment Group March 18, 2008 | about stocks: BSC / C / GS / LEH / MER / MS    

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The action in many Financial stocks over the last couple of days has been truly amazing. In the table on the right, we highlight the percentage change from the close last Thursday to the lows yesterday, along with the change from the lows yesterday to current price levels.

While Bear Stearns (BSC) is in a world of its own, big names like Lehman Brothers (LEH), Morgan Stanley (MS), Merrill Lynch (MER), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Citigroup (C) saw declines of 15% to 50%, only to be followed with gains of 20% to 100%.

Yesterday, Lehman traded from $34 down to $20 and back up to $34 in a couple of hours. That's billions and billions of dollars wiped out and then suddenly found again. It usually takes 5 to 10 years for these stocks to move this far down and this far up again. In the current market environment, it takes less than 24 hours.

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This article has 5 comments:

  •  
    Mar 18 03:14 PM
    Two young boys at Bespoke Investment Group, comment in harmony,

    "It usually takes 5 to 10 years for these stocks to move this far down and this far up again. In the current market environment, it takes less than 24 hours."


    Don't you young boys just love this wild roller coaster ride? Tell ya, this really excites me.

    These are times when decades of stock trading experience pay well and I am earning boat loads of bucks through high anxiety, high risk day trading.

    Fundamentals, out the window with the baby. Technicals, might as well be drawing cartoons of Mohammad. These are market conditions, within the financial sector, requiring quick assessment of trader perception based solely on volatility of share prices. This quick assessment is keeping your ugly mug plastered to your live feed while watching minute-by-minute changes in trending.

    Not for everyone, not for almost all, certainly not for young boys who fancy themselves savvy traders, these are conditions under which those very few with lots of experience and a willingness to take on extreme risks, can made gobs of money, or lose gobs of money.

    I am loving this wildness in the markets. If I could this my way, our stocks markets would be this wild on a daily basis; this is exciting.

    Probably kinda scary for young boys, though.


    Okpulot Taha
    Choctaw Nation
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  •  
    Mar 18 08:51 PM
    Someone apparently has a fixation with young boys.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Mar 18 11:03 PM
    wtf?
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Mar 19 06:40 AM
    Purl Gurl thinks she is smart. She is fooled by randomness.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Mar 19 12:01 PM
    Anyone with internet access now can trade stocks and have their trades executed within 5 seconds, it's no wonder we are seeing the moves we are in stocks. Investors no longer want to wait for six months while an analysts predictions kick-in; they would rather have it kick-in in 6 days, an hour becomes a minute, a day an hour, a month a day, a year a month, a decade a year. Just like global warming, everything is moving much faster these days.

    Just look how fast the Chinese move! They were in the 16th century less then 50 years ago, now they are in the 21st and rapidly moving ahead of the developed world. There are some really motivated people who have emerged in the world and dust doesn't seem to be settling under their feet.

    Death of the mutual fund? ;)
    Reply | Link to Comment
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