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pencilvanian
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2209 Posts |
 Posted - 10/10/2008 : 22:34:30
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Sometimes I find news on the web that don't quite fit into any current topic, or are just not quite important enough to post as a topic all its own. Rather than just ignore these news stories it makes sense to at least post them here as odd stories that might (or might not) be useful to forum members.
Just think of them as digital newspaper clippings.
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Financial Times
Global market rout
The worst week for stock markets since the crash of 1987. Or since the 1970s slump? Or even before then, since the 1930s? It has certainly been awful. Some $6,200bn was wiped off the value of the world’s stock markets last week as a Category 5 Credit Cyclone smashed around the globe. Many markets simply battened down the hatches and didn’t open. What has been going on?
The simplest answer is: distressed selling.
Hedge fund redemptions prompted one round of sales. Steep losses in the leveraged loan market, related to Icelandic banks, piled on further pressure.
Then there were fears about whether $450bn of credit default swaps taken out to insure Lehman bonds would settle on Friday afternoon. Distress spread from there. Even gold was not immune. Bargains have been spurned – the S&P 500 is now trading on 9 times forward earnings, its cheapest level since 1985. But those deals are going to remain on the table until investors are clearer what the rules are – let alone valuations.
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Pawnshop business heats up as economy freezes
As the wallets of Valley residents continue to thin, many are heading to local pawnshops — hocking their power tools, jewelry and electronic devices — in hopes of securing a loan to make ends meet.
East Valley pawnshop managers said that they have seen a spike in their money-lending businesses as the U.S. economy continues to worsen.
Tammy Naylor, manager of Albert’s Chandler Pawn Center in Chandler, said in her 12 years in the pawn business, she’s never seen anything quite like it.
She said more women are coming in with family heirlooms — like rings and earrings — and more men are willing to part with their guns and power tools for a few weeks, looking for a quick financial fix to fill up their gas tanks or pay off bills.
“Looking at these items, you know people are hurting and hurting badly,” she said. “These are things that people typically hold on to, no matter the circumstance.”
....Seeing these items, Naylor said, she doesn’t need government numbers to know how bad things are in the Valley economy.
But those numbers are in.
The government reported last week that U.S. employers cut 159,000 jobs in September, making it the ninth consecutive month of job losses.
...With so many people now out of the work force, Albert’s and other pawnshops like Pawns Plus in Mesa have seen an influx of power tools.
Aaron Nelson, manager of Pawns Plus, said the appearance of power drills, power sanders and welders has doubled in the past six months.
At Albert’s, Naylor said, the shop now has so many tools that it has stopped pawning them altogether.
“As each day passes, we’re seeing more and more new faces looking to pawn items,”
…..Typically, Naylor said, customers come back in time to retrieve their items, before they are put on the shelf for retail. But recently, she said, fewer customers make it back. They need the cash.
“More people are willing to walk away,” said JoAnn Baldenegro, owner of The Pawn Man in Mesa.
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Economic news clippings
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