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October 13, 2008

Will we see “panicked buying” on the markets?

Thanksgiving day came and went for Canadians as they sat down with their families, ladeled the gravy, passed the potatoes and tucked in the turkey. But as we were under tryptophan’s trance, our neighbours to the south were buoying American stock markets by snapping up shares at a maddening pace. In fact, the Dow Jones by the end of trading was up over 930 points increasing the value of indexed shares by over 11%, the S&P500 was also up over 11% and the NASDAQ up just under 12%. It was a record setting day on the American markets.

So, what does this mean for Canada? While markets in this country were closed on Monday, there stands a excellent chance — absent an unforeseen event — that our markets will see the same frenzied buying that we saw stateside.

And what does this mean for a Prime Minister who has represented himself as a steady hand in turbulent economic times? While Conservatives have historically been electorally handicapped when the economy is poor, a surging market may deliver an economic stimulus for Stephen Harper on election day.

For Canadians, it will indicate some return of confidence to markets and bolstered optimism for this country’s economic outlook. For traders, tomorrow may see a flurry of panicked buying and for more casual bystanders of the market economy, retirement savings may similarly bounce back.

Election day may in fact be bullish. Will it benefit the incumbent Conservative Prime Minister?

This entry was authored by at 08:32 PM | Tweet this | Comments (12)
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  • Hoarfrost

    I despair.

    Canadians look at the stock market as the kingdom of the rich. Harper says that it may be a good time to buy. If you are lined up at your local food bank it is a bunch of malarkey. Harper and the Conservatives missed the boat by not appealing to the disenfranchised and those who may become disenfranchised by this economic meltdown. We need empathy to be portrayed and to be explicit..

    I believe that a true Conservative would innately understand that. Why do the Conservatives not understand how to sell this stuff. Give them our vision. Get excited about what our plans can do for the country and for the lowest of the low. No other platform can do and perform the magic of providing what we can provide for all. This is not socialism. It is making our country rich so that we can provide adequately for all. We have the method to provide the money to provide the necesssities.Conservative policies are something to get excited about.

  • Gorthaur

    Still you should had bought }:)

  • http://vent.itsonlysteam.com itsonlysteam

    I moved all my RRSPs to stocks for the first time in 4 years last week. Its called buying low and selling high. In my case I don't buy individual stocks but this will be the 3rd time I've played the business cycle. If you wait for real market capitulation and then get back into safe investments in a year and forget about finding the bottom or top … you'll beat the shorts of the balanced long term invester.

    The amount of information needed to do this is minor as well. The corollary is if it gets bad enough that the whole world disintegrates, who cares anyway. Seriously, historically we've brought ourselves to this place with our monetary system and the governments of the world have to choice but to inflate us out of this. For answers to the problem go to http://www.mises.org … and I must say I'm skeptical about doing anything but trying to fix what we have.

    Empathy is not in it. We have democratically endorsed this system since Bennet and the Bank of Montreal was the de facto Central Bank. What you need to do is understand it and take advantage of it … and don't get caught like the Connacher execs with margin calls they have to finance with panic selling … that is funny.

  • http://streetadvisorconsulting.blogspot.com markalanwhittle

    Kaching, TSX soars 1,600 points. Good way to start such an important day for the economy.

    Therefore I went to the polling station to vouch for our boarder so she could have her say and a vote. All three of us electors living this house have been following the campaign. Only Harper seems to have a grip on reality, unlike the other contenders. On this we all agree. Three ticks for the Conservatives.

    I had already voted in the advance poll, so I was a qualified elector and I know that every vote counts.

    The EC Information officer helped her fill out the form to verify her adress at my house and to swear to it by oath. She presented this sworn document to the DRO and the poll clerk gave her a ballot. In and out in less than ten minutes at 10:00 am in the morning. Thats the beauty of democracy in the free world, we all have a right to vote and should exercise that right whenever it is called upon. Someone could win by one vote truth be told. If you vote it could be your vote that decides.

  • Nicola Timmerman

    That rally is known as a sucker bounce – good luck with your investments.

  • stephen p

    markalanwittle

    Glad you were able to help your boarder do the right thing and vote.

    Today the Misses and I trotted down to our Calgary Centre polling station and also did the right thing. Nice couple in their seventies doing the voting box. Asked to see our driver's license, had a nice chat and then presented us with our ballots. Much the same experience as in previous elections.

    Now the thing that has always bothered me about this procedure is that in all the years I have been voting, I have never been asked if I am a Canadian citizen. Driver's licences may provide proof of residential address, but they certainly do not provide proof of citizenship.

    So I was wondering markalanwhittle if, when you vouched for your boarder, did anyone ask for proof of citizenship? Or did the form he/she signed have a question (answered under oath) that he/she was a Canadian citizen?

    Just kind of curious.

  • http://vent.itsonlysteam.com itsonlysteam

    I moved all my RRSPs to stocks for the first time in 4 years last week. Its called buying low and selling high. In my case I don't buy individual stocks but this will be the 3rd time I've played the business cycle. If you wait for real market capitulation and then get back into safe investments in a year and forget about finding the bottom or top … you'll beat the shorts of the balanced long term invester.

    The amount of information needed to do this is minor as well. The corollary is if it gets bad enough that the whole world disintegrates, who cares anyway. Seriously, historically we've brought ourselves to this place with our monetary system and the governments of the world have no choice but to inflate us out of this. For answers to the problem go to http://www.mises.org … and I must say I'm skeptical about doing anything but trying to fix what we have.

    Empathy is not in it. We have democratically endorsed this system since Bennett and the Bank of Montreal was the de facto Central Bank. What you need to do is understand it and take advantage of it … and don't get caught like the Connacher execs with margin calls they have to finance with panic selling … that is funny.

  • terry1

    The incumbent PM had nothing to do with the good or the bad in the economy. He still needs to go, however, because populist idealogues have no place running Canada.

  • Steven Koning

    Gasoline at less than $1.00 per litre, I wonder if Jack Layton will give the credit to Stephen Harpr whom jacko blamed when the price went to $1.40/litre? The Toronto stock market went up 1600 points, I wonder if voters will agree that last week was an excellent buying opportunity and that Stephen Harper's stock tip was a way to help those who were in a position to do so. Finally, watch a Conservative government turn the tap off for an ungrateful Quebec for two years until just before an election, to teach the Gallic tribe a lesson in Real-Politiek.

  • http://streetadvisorconsulting.blogspot.com markalanwhittle

    Kaching, TSX soars 1,600 points. Good way to start such an important day for the economy.

    Therefore I went to the polling station to vouch for our boarder so she could have her say and a vote. All three of us electors living this house have been following the campaign. Only Harper seems to have a grip on reality, unlike the other contenders. On this we all agree. Three ticks for the Conservatives.

    I had already voted in the advance poll, so I was a qualified elector and I know that every vote counts.

    The EC Information officer helped her fill out the form to verify her adress at my house and to swear to it by oath. She presented this sworn document to the DRO and the poll clerk gave her a ballot. In and out in less than ten minutes at 10:00 am in the morning. Thats the beauty of democracy in the free world, we all have a right to vote and should exercise that right whenever it is called upon. Someone could win by one vote truth be told. If you vote it could be your vote that decides.

  • Nicola Timmerman

    That rally is known as a sucker bounce – good luck with your investments.

  • stephen p

    markalanwittle

    Glad you were able to help your boarder do the right thing and vote.

    Today the Misses and I trotted down to our Calgary Centre polling station and also did the right thing. Nice couple in their seventies doing the voting box. Asked to see our driver's license, had a nice chat and then presented us with our ballots. Much the same experience as in previous elections.

    Now the thing that has always bothered me about this procedure is that in all the years I have been voting, I have never been asked if I am a Canadian citizen. Driver's licences may provide proof of residential address, but they certainly do not provide proof of citizenship.

    So I was wondering markalanwhittle if, when you vouched for your boarder, did anyone ask for proof of citizenship? Or did the form he/she signed have a question (answered under oath) that he/she was a Canadian citizen?

    Just kind of curious.