On Apr 1, 2010, at 1:55 PM, Wojtek S wrote:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8599343.stm
>
> [WS:] So the 2008 recession turned out to be a storm in a teacup,
> after
> all.
>
> Stocks are doing rather well too.
Woj, you're misreading this badly. The article reports on the ISM index, which is based on a survey of purchasing managers at manufacturing companies. When it's above 50, the sector is expanding; when below, it's contracting. The index is at its highest level in six years. The reasons that people follow it is that it's a timely indicator, and a proxy for the Fed's industrial production index, which isn't as timely. The Fed index is basically at the same level it was at in 1999 after falling by 15-20% in the recession. Manufacturing was hammered in the recession, and wasn't doing so well in the expansion either. This is - or was, since it probably ended last June - by almost any measure, the worst recession since the 1930s. And stocks have basically gone nowhere since the 2000 peak, making the 2000s one of the worst decades - maybe the worst, I'm too lazy to check this now - in stock market history.
Doug