The Week Ahead: A Waiting Game
Over the past several weeks, the overall stock market has resembled a roller coaster -- down and up; down and up; and then a quick drop. That's the case no matter which major market index we look at. The only real difference among the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite has been the degree of the drop. While the first two indices have fallen roughly 7% over the past month, the Nasdaq has dropped a more pronounced 8.1% in the past four weeks, and nearly 10.4% since Sept. 14. Weighing on the Nasdaq like a rock has been Apple (AAPL), which has fallen 18% in the last month alone.
With the presidential election behind us, the primary driver behind the drop in the stock market has been the uncertainty associated with the looming "fiscal cliff." While the politicians in Washington will look to hammer out a deal to avert the cliff, uncertainty remains over when that deal may be reached, as well as over what it entails -- and this will have companies and consumers hoping for the best, but planning for the worst. To me it means that, as we inch closer to the year's end without a deal, companies will likely take several preemptive actions: They'll revisit forecasts, slow if not halve capital spending projects, freeze hiring and at least prepare for reductions in head count....700 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
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