Stock Market Selling

Stock market averages slid over four percent last week. The sizable decline comes shortly after the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit an all time high over 14,000. Cecil Ross says "we were all excited when the market went over 14,000. That was a good increase of 13.9% for the year, midyear." The market jitter have been attributed to problems in the sub-prime mortgage market. These are riskier loans which may involve one hundred percent financing. Mike Neace says "those people have put no money down, and now the mortgage people are getting those things back." Mortgage foreclosures are up fifty percent from last year. The difficulties some homeowners are facing may slow consumer spending. Mike Neace says "the housing market effects every aspect of our economy, from refrigerators, to cars, to whatever. When the housing market starts to go down, our economy suffers from that." Despite woes in the housing market, the overall economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter. Cecil Ross says " there is always something that will put negative pressure on the market. On a day to day basis, or a year to year basis, the market is steady. What we want to do as investors is constantly put our money in the 401k or have a systematic plan." Market declines allow investors to purchase stocks at lower prices. Cecil Ross says "when the market goes down a little bit and we are still buying, we get more shares for our money. If we have a long term perspective for retirement, our goal is to collect as many shares as possible." The market has gone up steadily since March 2003 and many advisors view this as a temporary pullback. Mike Neace says "the market went up too fast and we have people taking profits, it is to be expected."