(April 3) – “Market watchers are wondering if stock market crashes are a thing of the past. They may well be so long as the huge shifts out of leading sectors of the market, which once took an entire Depression to correct, now occur day by day, hour by hour, with only a minor effect on today’s rapid-fire stock market,” writes Guy Dixon in today’s Globe and Mail.
“This was the conclusion many market watchers were making as they watched, almost with approval, as the technology-laden Nasdaq Stock Market bounced in and out of correction territory last week.
“Losing nearly 8 per cent over five days, the Nasdaq suffered badly. So did the technology-driven Toronto Stock Exchange 300-stock index, which fell almost 6 per cent.
“But whereas investment pros might once have seen this as the dark cloud before a possible full-scale market disaster, they now exude calm, even a little bit of elation.
“Clearly, something seems to have changed.
“Scott Paterson, for instance, the chief executive officer of Toronto’s Yorkton Securities, whose business depends in large part on a healthy technology stock sector, enthusiastically spoke on Friday of the bargains out there now that once high-flying tech stock prices have eased a little.
“Meanwhile, Edward Yardeni, chief economist at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown, who has never shirked from expressing skepticism about the tech sector or seemingly over-inflated stock prices, also hinted at something fundamentally changing.
“In particular, he and others see the rest of the market benefiting from the tech slowdown.