Get ready to tumble
Dow, S&P sharply lower, while gold, Treasurys rally
Aug. 8, 2011, 7:20 a.m. EDT
U.S. stock futures sink, gold soars after S&P move
Gold futures surge $60 as investors seek a safe haven
By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) — Wall Street was set for a sharply lower opening Monday after the unprecedented downgrade of U.S. debt by Standard & Poor’s, while gold futures soared nearly $60 as investors sought a safe haven.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 245 points to 11,159. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 29.30 points to 1,168.50 and those on the Nasdaq 100 sank 54.50 points to 2,132.50.
After the close of Wall Street trading on Friday, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. government’s AAA debt rating to AA+, and assigned it a negative outlook. The agency said the U.S. political system had become less stable and the deficit-reduction deal reached by lawmakers last week was not extensive enough.
The downgrade was expected,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital. “As the first-ever [U.S. debt downgrade] announcement, it was taken as a shock, but I think it was pretty much priced into the marketplace.”
“Whether or not investors continue to choose to lower risk, I think that’s yet to be seen and I think the real basis for this huge decline has a lot to do with hedge-fund selling, which feeds on itself,” said Cardillo.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 5.8% last week, its worst weekly performance since March 6, 2009, while the S&P 500 index fell 7.2% on the week, its worst since late 2008. The Nasdaq finished the week down 8%, its worst since late 2008 as well.
Gold is $1,581/oz today. When it hits $2,000, it will be up 26.5%. Let's see how long that takes. - De 3/11/2013 - ANSWER: 7 Years, 5 Months
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