Warm and Fuzzy Headline of the Day

While the volatility in the market has been giving similar signals for several weeks now, we haven't seen many high-profile headlines like the one in today's Financial Times below:

 

Mr. Thain went on to say, “Right now, the US economy is contracting very rapidly. We are looking at a per­iod of global slowdown...This is not like 1987 or 1998 or 2001. The contraction going on is bigger than that. We will in fact look back to the 1929 period to see the kind of slow­down we’re seeing now.”

Now, it would be one thing if the headline and comments had come from any number of economists who typically take a dour outlook.  But these comments came from the CEO of one of the largest brokerage firms in the world.  His company's job is to sell stocks, and comments like this don't necessarily give investors nostalgia for the good old days.

Looking on the bright side, as we learned earlier in the year when the firm raised additional capital twice after repeatedly telling investors that it was well capitalized (see comments below), when it comes to comments from Merrill's management, investors should take everything they say with a grain of salt.

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Comments

[dj]

What ever they say is in "there" best intrest......panic,panic,panic

[George]

That is ridiculously bad and misleading information. Someone should point out to Mr. Thain that the US economy did not have a contraction in 87 or 98, (so no kidding this is worse, thanks John) in fact, both of those years saw robust growth. They were both market events, not economic. As for 2001, it was as painless a recession as you'll ever get, meaning, its not hard to beat. Why don't we start with discussing the last consumer led recession, 1990, and if things continue to deteriorate beyond that then we can reevaluate. Why jump on board with the overly excited financial media (turned shock jocks) and focus on the most remote outcome of a severe depression?