Investors will return from holiday with same fears

[UpInArms]

Source: Associated Press

NEW YORK - The three-day weekend probably didn't bring much relaxation to investors if they stopped at a gas station on the way to the beach or a barbeque.

With the average roadside price of gasoline pushing $3.88 a gallon — and going for well over $4 at filling stations in some parts of the country — energy prices have become a prime worry in the stock market.

That's not to say other concerns have dissipated. As Wall Street heads into this shortened week, it remains anxious about the still-slumping housing market, not to mention the ailing financial services sector. But so much of the economy's performance later in the year will depend on energy costs, so the focus will be on crude until investors see a substantial price retreat.

What's particularly troubling about oil's rise is that everyone knows it will affect the economy, but no one is sure exactly how. Experts are split over whether it will cause broad-based inflation, further economic weakness, or both at the same time.

None of these scenarios are good ones. And the fact that the Federal Reserve says its monetary policy will likely remain on hold until it's clear which situation plays out was a big reason the stock market did so poorly last week. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 3.91 percent, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3.47 percent and the Nasdaq composite index declined 3.33 percent.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080525/ap_on_bi_ge/wall_street_week_ahead;_ylt=AiaH3foQ9Nk2derr7MjuTZ.b.HQA

[Tansy_Gold]

1. Investors ain't the only ones

Our fears, of course, are different from theirs.

We fear: losing our jobs if we have one or not being able to find one; losing our home to foreclosure or giving up eating to pay the mortgage; having to choose between prescription medications and making the car insurance premium; having a child lose his or her job and have to move back in with us; a catastrophic illness or even a not-so-catastrophic one that will wipe out our life savings if we have any; the sudden evaporation of what we thought was our retirement nest-egg; whether there will even be a social security when it comes time to retire; and oh so many more things that those aforementioned "investors" -- meaning, the big dollar folks -- never give a moment's thought to.



Tansy Gold, who gives many moments' thought to them, especially at night when she can't sleep. . . .. . .

[Arctic Dave]

2. They think they are fearful now, wait until they

come home and find out the Arab states are talking about unpegging from the petrodollar due to inflation. They are going to poo their collective pants.