The sky is falling..the sky is falling! Wall Street took a 300 point dump yesterday because that bastion of all things "sexy" Victoria's Secret announced it took a huge hit during the holidays. Ok..I kid..but they come up short..very short by Wall Street standards. Eight percent IS a huge hit when you consider it was during the biggest buying season of the year.
Oh-fucking-well, the reality is that everything is dropping like the proverbial rock..even those considered safe. From the NYT article linked above:
Prices of municipal bonds, bank loans and high-yield debt all fell as well.
The markets for ultrasafe debt backed by the federal government and other nations were alone in posting gains. Some commodities, including gold, were also up.
*snip*
Wall Street's attention was soon riveted by a report from analysts at UBS that estimated losses to the financial system from securities backed by mortgages and other debts would total $600 billion. Until recently, many analysts had been forecasting losses in the neighborhood of $400 billion — a figure that the dwindling band of optimists in the financial markets once dismissed as vastly overblown.
Who in the hell can afford to buy high-priced sexy undies and bras when the price of gas is slated to hit four bucks a gallon soon? So now..the gents on Wall Street are beginning to pay attention, even if The Shrub yesterday had the nads to say we aren't in a recession and its just a little burp..
More like a huge fart with a case of ..well you know..the Tijuana two-step.
