Friday, October 12, 2018

Stock Market Corrections


On 10/10/18 and 10/11/18, the stock market took a double dip with two day correction that took the Dow down from 26,430 to 25,052. It took the S&P 500 down from 2880 to 2728 and it took the Nasdaq down from 7737 to 7329. We will recover from as the economy adjusts.

The triple witching moment came as the companies suspended their stock buy-backs prior to quarterly earnings reports. The Federal Reserve was making plans to add a couple of .25 increases in the 2.00 fed interest rate. The third blow I believe is that shareholders knew that the stocks that were over-valued were the stocks from companies who had no viable long-term plan.  The software did the rest. There is also a large group of shareholders who “play the market” and sell to take profits and then buy stocks at cheaper valuations after the correction. This is the rollercoaster ride. The rest of us just stay put.

Higher Treasury Yields and Fed Interest Rate Increases anticipated. Housing and Autos expect lower sales in US going forward. Rising interest rates affect housing and auto sales. All of this makes sense. Housing and Auto prices are too high and these industries expect buyers to hold off. Here’s the “play by play” for the 2 day correction.

On 10/10/18, the Dow closed down 832 points on 10/10/18 from 26,430 to 25,599. This is a 3% correction. The S&P 500 closed down 94 points to 2786. Down 3.3%. This is usually where your 401k is invested. The Nasdaq closed down 315 points to 7422. This is a 4% drop

On 10/11/18, the Dow closed lower at 25,052. The S&P 500 closed at 2728 and the Nasdaq closed at 7329. The second dip was 547 points.  The total 2 day correction was 1379 points. This was the second correction in 2018. The first was in February 2018.

See prior post: On 2/5/18 stocks prices started to correct and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by 1,175 points to 24,345.  On 2/7/17, the DOW closed at 20,090. (Posted February 7, 2018)

The Long View - The Dow moved from 18000 in 2016 to settle at 25,052 in 2018 so far in 2018.

Stocks move up and down when day traders want to sell and lock in profits. The February 2018 correction sent the Dow bouncing around the 24,000 to 25,000 range.  Now I expect it to bounce around from 25,000 to 27.000.

The 30 companies that make up the Dow Average have seen GE depart and other large companies will follow.

Your 401k funds are mostly in the S&P 500. That is the largest 500 companies listed on the NY Stock Exchange.

The Nasdaq lists Apple, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Roche (Pharma), Intel and hundreds of companies you never heard of. Most are not “tech companies”.


There are lots of companies with low stock values. Ford is at $8.81 per share. GE is at $12.72 per share.  Sears is at 34 cents per share. JC Penny is at $1.81 per share.

See the list of the 100 biggest losers in this latest correction at:

The losses are small and across the board. Eventually I expect weakness in healthcare as prices are lowered and in lending as consumers and corporations reduce their debt.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

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