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Tech stocks are getting slammed, Dow tanks more than 500 points

28 points by aogl 8y ago

ChuckMcM 8y ago
This feels a lot like deja-vu for me from the dot com days. After all Tech was a huge part of the economy, and big swings in tech were seen as big swings in the economy. Except that much of tech is fashion, like skinny jeans fashion. That people become disillusioned with the latest "cool" platform and then move to some other "new" platform is like the tech equivalent of the circle of life. Actual engineering, like new kinds of computers or appliances that were not possible before but now are, Etc is a relatively small part of the 'tech' stock makeup. I note that after the dot.com crash there wasn't a lot of talk about how hard it was to find a house in the Bay Area, so you might have that to look forward to again.
adtac 8y ago
A sale just in time for Black Friday / Cyber Monday!
excalibur 8y ago
It seems like the Dow dropping 500-ish points in a day is the new normal, it seems to happen fairly regularly. It generally makes those losses up with massive gains on other days, which do make headlines, but they don't receive the same kind of attention. Regardless of whether it's up or down on a particular day, the underlying theme is that the market has become very volatile.
- slededit 8y ago
  When the risk free rate was zero, and bonds not much better - there where precious few places to park your money. Now people have options again and it clear the resulting risk-capital allocation is not going to be 100% stocks.
- prewett 8y ago
  Since the Dow is at 25k, 500 points is about 2%, which really isn't too unusual. It fluctuates about 1% a day. I wouldn't even say the market is "very volatile"; the VIX is only at 20, which while more than average for the past two years, is hardly unprecedented. Earlier this year it was at 37. But it definitely is somewhat volatile, I'll give you that.
joshwcomeau 8y ago
Hm. this is next-level cherry-picking. The Dow Jones is higher today than it was last Tuesday. It went up for a few days, and now it's going down by a bit. It's still 1300 points higher than it was 2 weeks ago. and 500 points higher than it was a year ago. A few stocks are doing poorly, others are doing well. Same thing as any other day, seems like? Disclaimer: I'm not a stocks person, I'm just reading the graphs. So maybe there is something significant that a layperson doesn't understand... but it certainly seems disingenuous to make it seem like there's a huge problem with the Dow.
lostmsu 8y ago
And they say cryptocurrencies are volatile.
- adtac 8y ago
  Tbh, that comparison is unfair. Stock is meant to be an investment. If crypto wants to satisfy its goals of being a currency, it has to be much more stable.
RickJWagner 8y ago
Looking at the long view, Warren Buffet says the Dow will reach 1,000,000 in a hundred years. I wouldn't bet against him.
- statguy 8y ago
  I would bet against that - mostly because it would probably get split/rescaled, so that the daily movements are easier to comprehend. Imagine a headline which says "Dow drops by 10,000 points", only to find that it has dropped by 1%.
masonic 8y ago
The Dow (actually, the Dow Jones Industrial Average) only represents 30 stocks, without emphasizing tech.

28 points by aogl 8y ago

This feels a lot like deja-vu for me from the dot com days. After all Tech was a huge part of the economy, and big swings in tech were seen as big swings in the economy. Except that much of tech is fashion, like skinny jeans fashion. That people become disillusioned with the latest "cool" platform and then move to some other "new" platform is like the tech equivalent of the circle of life. Actual engineering, like new kinds of computers or appliances that were not possible before but now are, Etc is a relatively small part of the 'tech' stock makeup. I note that after the dot.com crash there wasn't a lot of talk about how hard it was to find a house in the Bay Area, so you might have that to look forward to again.

adtac 8y ago

A sale just in time for Black Friday / Cyber Monday!

excalibur 8y ago

It seems like the Dow dropping 500-ish points in a day is the new normal, it seems to happen fairly regularly. It generally makes those losses up with massive gains on other days, which do make headlines, but they don't receive the same kind of attention. Regardless of whether it's up or down on a particular day, the underlying theme is that the market has become very volatile.

slededit 8y ago
When the risk free rate was zero, and bonds not much better - there where precious few places to park your money. Now people have options again and it clear the resulting risk-capital allocation is not going to be 100% stocks.
prewett 8y ago
Since the Dow is at 25k, 500 points is about 2%, which really isn't too unusual. It fluctuates about 1% a day. I wouldn't even say the market is "very volatile"; the VIX is only at 20, which while more than average for the past two years, is hardly unprecedented. Earlier this year it was at 37. But it definitely is somewhat volatile, I'll give you that.

joshwcomeau 8y ago

Hm. this is next-level cherry-picking. The Dow Jones is higher today than it was last Tuesday. It went up for a few days, and now it's going down by a bit. It's still 1300 points higher than it was 2 weeks ago. and 500 points higher than it was a year ago. A few stocks are doing poorly, others are doing well. Same thing as any other day, seems like? Disclaimer: I'm not a stocks person, I'm just reading the graphs. So maybe there is something significant that a layperson doesn't understand... but it certainly seems disingenuous to make it seem like there's a huge problem with the Dow.

lostmsu 8y ago

And they say cryptocurrencies are volatile.

adtac 8y ago
Tbh, that comparison is unfair. Stock is meant to be an investment. If crypto wants to satisfy its goals of being a currency, it has to be much more stable.

RickJWagner 8y ago

Looking at the long view, Warren Buffet says the Dow will reach 1,000,000 in a hundred years. I wouldn't bet against him.

statguy 8y ago
I would bet against that - mostly because it would probably get split/rescaled, so that the daily movements are easier to comprehend. Imagine a headline which says "Dow drops by 10,000 points", only to find that it has dropped by 1%.

masonic 8y ago

The Dow (actually, the Dow Jones Industrial Average) only represents 30 stocks, without emphasizing tech.