How the market's doing mid-way point
Fortune Magazine's Allan Sloan talks with Steve Chiotakis about how the market is doing at the half-way point of the year.
Allan Sloan is a senior editor-at-large at Fortune (APM)
More on The Economy, America's Financial Crisis
TEXT OF INTERVIEW
STEVE CHIOTAKIS: You know, as we reach the mid-point of the year tomorrow, the broader S&P index is pretty much unchanged. But don't let that fool you into believing it's been an uneventful year. Fortune Magazine's Allan Sloan joins us now. Good morning Allan.
ALLAN SLOAN: Good morning Steve.
CHIOTAKIS: So here we are at the mid-point of the year and we've got these two indices that really are pretty much where they were at the beginning of the year.
SLOAN: And clearly, as you know, since the numbers are pretty much where they were when the year started, that must mean nothing happened, right?
CHIOTAKIS: But a lot's happened since the first of the year.
SLOAN: Right. And as we remember painfully... first the markets went down like mad like 20 percent. And then when people were getting ready to shoot themselves, they turned around and rallied 25 percent to get back where they started.
CHIOTAKIS: Now these are broad stocks, right? I mean what does this mean to the Average Joe or the Average Jane who maybe are watching the stock market right now and thinking to themselves, 'you know I want to get involved' or maybe they're just taking their blood pressure.
SLOAN: Well one thing it means is if you're a cardiologist handling investors, you had a great year because there was stress going down and stress going up. For an average person, I think what this shows is how much better off you are just doing nothing rather than trying to react to the latest piece of news because a typical person would've sold out when the market was going down, would have bought when the market was going up, and would've had less money than they'd have just having sat around and done nothing.
CHIOTAKIS: So here we are the half point of the year, what doe we expect the rest for the rest of the year?
SLOAN: We expect things to be exciting.
CHIOTAKIS: That's the only limb you'll go out on?
SLOAN: Well it's when they asked some legendary figure, what will the market do and he said fluctuate.
So I mean, Steve if I knew I don't think I'd be telling anybody. I think I'd be out getting rich.
CHIOTAKIS: Fortune Magazine's Allan Sloan joining. Thanks, Allan.
SLOAN: You're welcome, Steve. And a rich regard to you.
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