Wreckonomic reality
Saddam's statue topples and the Dow closes down 100.98 points, off 1.72 percent for the year. The predicted rally on the heels of a rapid "victory" in Iraq hasn't materialized (now we're in for months of internecine conflict and a slow disolution of the "new Iraq" as the U.S. moves on to the next crisis -- see Afghanistan for details). The long run-up to war kept growth subdued and now we're seeing the impact in lowered guidance from companies and rising national debt and trade deficits. In other words, war isn't a magic elixir for the economy and we still have to face reality, that a lot of basic block-and-tackling of fundamentals needs doing. This from the New York Times:
Posted by Mitch Ratcliffe at April 9, 2003 03:59 PM | TrackBack
``The market has been absolutely thrilled about an imminent end for arguably (these) first three weeks of the war. We started the stock rally before the war started,'' said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. ``Unfortunately, when investors stop celebrating they will have to focus on corporate profits, which may not be so jubilant,'' he said.