Thursday, November 8, 2007

Like Lemmings Off a Cliff....

From Bloomberg:

Most U.S. stocks rose after banks rallied in the final hour of trading from their lowest level in two years and food companies climbed on speculation their earnings growth will weather a slowing economy.

...

``All of a sudden these things are starting to get pretty cheap,''
said Wayne Wilbanks, who oversees $1.3 billion as chief investment officer of Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC in Norfolk, Virginia. ``That's what was important about today. This was a good sign.''


Let's define cheap in a few ways.

1.) Cheap because it is overlooked.

2.) Cheap because it sucks.

Which category does the industry that today alone wrote down over $10 billion in debt fall into?

In case you're wondering, we're a few years off from the end of this problem



Then there's the whole delinquency thing....



Financials are cheap because they suck right now.