Friday, October 10, 2008

Vix trying for 100?

The VIX index registered its maximum level in history—100 or thereabouts, since it was calculated a bit differently than it is today—at the bottom of the market crash of October 1987. This market is trying to match that record. I remember the panic that gripped us back then, as I was working at Leland O'Brien Rubinstein (LOR) at the time. LOR became infamous because it was the "father" of portfolio insurance, which many blamed for the crash. It's worth remembering that despite that horrendous collapse, the economy essentially never missed a beat. There was no recession.

This time around is probably worse, but I make this point to emphasize that it is not impossible for markets and the economy to recover from something even as awful as this is.

2 comments:

Tory Conservative said...

Microsoft is selling at 9.5 times earnings. What a bargain.

Scott Grannis said...

Instead of buying MSFT I would suggest instead you consider AAPL. MSFT is an aging company that has no ability to innovate. It will be losing market share to AAPL for a long time. Same goes for computers. If you now have a PC you should try a Mac.