Crash

Swooooosh! I was caught off-guard. I was looking at the numbers and my eyes grew larger in disbelief. I was hoping it was some kind of computer glitch, but no, it was real. It was not entirely unexpected but it came down so swift I barely had time to act. I decided to watch in the sidelines thinking that any move would do more harm than good.

Of course, I'm talking about yesterday's mini-crash of the global stock markets, thanks to overweight China that dragged down markets all over the world, mind you, even the US Dow Jones was spooked. Meanwhile, the Philippines was in its own league again, this time for beating other markets to the cellar. It was the biggest loser yesterday, down as much as 9% in mid-trade and ended just a tad higher from its lowest point thus wiping out gains made since the beginning of the year. The picture gets clearer when we see how other markets fared: Japan (-3.5%), Singapore (-4.8%), Australia (-3.0%), Hong Kong (-3.5%), South Korea (-3.9%), Malaysia (-3.3%). Probably the biggest joke that came out of all these was that the Shanghai index, where all the ripples started, ironically jumped by 4% yesterday, after shedding 8% on Tuesday. It really beats me, big time.

I know, I know, you heard me blabbing a few posts back that the Philippine stock market was bullish again. It still is! Fundamentals remain the same. Pundits say yesterday's crash was just a healthy correction after weeks of racing past record highs, and that markets will remain bullish. Heck, the Philippine stock market just over-reacted. And yes incidentally, feng shui masters correctly predicted early this year that global stock market would encounter some bumpy road. I think this is it. But no worries, say pundits and feng shui experts, because times will even get better afterwards.

Funny I've seen the movie Crash(2004) a few nights ago. It has nothing to do with the stock market, I just felt it a fitting title to this post. A very good movie, by the way.

Anyway, I'm not going to rely entirely on what the experts say. Though I know the market will recover, I'm still going to watch very closely, because in the short term the downward trend may not be over... yet.