A Great Idea

Hey! I have a great idea...let's put our retirement funds into the hands of those smart people in New York and Washington.

Today's Closing: The major indices added to yesterday's thrashing, as concerns about slowing economic growth and corporate earnings kept buyers on the sidelines and closed every economic sector in negative territory... The Dow hit a five-month low while the Nasdaq, which raised a "correction" red flag now that it's off more than 10% in 2005, and the S&P also touched new lows for the year... Just a couple of weeks ago, investors were concerned about inflationary pressures stemming from a growing economy...
Now, the market appears to be unnerved by exactly the opposite - a slowing economy, as demand for commodities like steel and oil has continued to deteriorate... The latter even managed to fall through the $50/bbl mark for the first time since Feb 22, albeit temporarily, before short-covering helped lift the commodity 1.8% to close at $51.13/bbl (+$0.91)... But just as falling oil prices over the last two weeks weren't a source of strength for stocks, it would be a contradiction in the current environment to suggest that rising oil prices were a source of weakness behind today's broad-based move to the downside...

You did understand all of that, didn't you? In simple terms and never stated in the report above...the only people making money today were those who were managing the stocks and bonds for the investors.