Longest bear market in 60 years

Anyone thinks that war will dominate voter decisions is truly deceiving him or herself. The nation has now entered the longest bear market in 60 years. The NASDAQ has regressed to 1996 levels.

And, things appear to be getting worse as the nation seems headed into the Dubya Recession (a double-dipper):

Profit warnings are bucking a trend that began late last year, when more companies offered positive outlooks and fewer offered negative ones, according to research firm Thomson First Call. The ratio between those differing outlooks kept improving into the second quarter of 2002, but the trend is starting to reverse.

"All we've seen are disappointments or guidance lower," said Keith Gertsen, head of Nasdaq trading for Deutsche Bank. "That, coupled with a lack of visibility, drags on the market."

The depths of economic ineptitude shown by the current administration boggles the mind, and there is zero effort to try and improve things. The GOP hopes to use the Iraq war to differentiate itself from Dems, but no weak Democrat (save perhaps Wellstone) will vote against a war resolution. It will not be an effective wedge issue.

(Just remember that Democrats wrestled away two GOP governerships less than two months after 9-11).

Health care concerns will be important to reliable senior voters. Economic concerns will be important to everyone else, especially after 401(k) quarterly statements are mailed out at the end of September.

Posted September 23, 2002 02:52 PM | Comments (1)