Morgan Stanley closed today at around $9 a share. Earlier this year, it traded at around $55 a share.
Goldman Sachs closed today at around $52 a share. Earlier this year, it traded at around $234 a share.
AIG closed today at around $1.44 a share. Earlier this year, it traded at around $62.30 a share.
UPDATE: Per CajunBoylgb below, "The entire US stock market as measured by the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 lost about $700 billion on paper today."
As Congress today weighs the implications of bailing out one of the most American of industries--automobilies--further devestation on Wall Street reveals that the previous bailout, by all accounts, is failing miserably.
Those of us with retirement accounts, in some cases, may have been just as well off without.
If, instead of investing 5% to 10% of your hard-earned pay in a 401K, you had socked it away in a CD or interest-yielding checking account, you might actually be better off today.
It's easy to forget that investing even conservatively opens you up to risk. My 401K is 75% invested in Money Markets and Bonds and somehow, I still lost money this year. I'll survive; heck, I'm 26 years old. But I know a number of people in their late 50s who lost 75% of their retirement money in the past two months alone. After decades of saving, that seems downright cruel, particularly when we know social security won't offer much of a safety net.
So what, do we pull all of our money out and hide it under the mattress? Invest in gold? Will Americans take saving for retirement out of the hands of financial advisors and back into their own arms? Where does Congress fit in? Is it even their job to restore consumers' faith in a risk-based system?
Consumer confidence is one of the most revealing figures in an economic crisis. Nielsen and the Consumer Confidence Index show consumer confidence, in American and abroad, is at an all-time low... and with Christmas, the time when spending is typically at an all-time high, fast-approaching, there seems to be no sign of a turnaround on the horizon.
I have unfaltering faith in Barack Obama's ability to improve our nation's dire condition; but as far as the economy goes, is it possible we are simply too far gone to ever return to the way things were?
Economic overhaul is desperately needed.