Amex will take the brunt of any downturn with its recent losses and lack of growth drivers. The market is right to punish the stock.

Good article. It was correct that the Fed has given away its power, however that has long been the case as it violates Keynsian economics and keeps rates down throughout the whole cycle. The Fed is essentially destroying itself and along with our economic stability.

One should look at the makings of a economic downturn. It almost always hits commodities and then consumer goods first. With the US exporting so much of this part of the economy to China we should see the effects hit China and see it as the front part of our economic slowdown which it is. Otherwise you are liable to get slammed without recognizing the downturn much like so many got hit in 2008. There is less warning time these days because of that fact.

Yawn, Apple is running out of steam and has decided to prey on their channel. Although it will make some extra dough in the short run it will likely hurt in the long run. Consuming your channel to make money looks good on paper but seldomly works out well.

The business cycle is normally shorter than 7 years. The fact it goes for 7 years tends to imply government and central bank manipulation who are trying to hold up the economy for their own selfish needs by sacrificing the future of the country's economic potential.

The reason why 2008 was so bad was due to the fact there were terrible US government policies and the Fed was overly lax with monetary policy. This is even worse today where the Federal Reserve has thrown away all their Keynsian tools by stimulating the whole cycle and know they will need to revert to begging to do QE again when the cycle ends. Of course, this is calculated. They enrich fellow bankers with QE and apparently will kill the US economy to get the ability to do it again.

One should place added risk premiums on any county with zero or zirp interest rates and economic cycles in excess of 5 years. Both create the potential for very bad downturns.

Yawn and our Federal Reserve keeps saying the economy is strong and to wait until next quarter. China lies about their economy in the present and the US central bank lies about the economy in the future. In reality, there is very little difference, especially since both know they are lies and steer investors the wrong direction. Shame.

I don't see the market crashing unless something overseas definitely crashes or the Fed raises rates since it would negate their last chip to assist the market besides QE. Even though they could offer to lower rates the benefits to lowering rates back down is not as big as their statements not to raise rates because as we've seen they used this card many times to settle the market even when they didn't and shouldn't have.

The correction isn't that big from a historic perspective and there was little panic or fear which is good. We need to be able to take downside corrections in stride and this appears to be just one of them. The bigger issue is if the US is looking at a stalling of its economy and if China will stall as well. Without these two the global economy looks to be in dire need of growth from anywhere.

The current sell off is mainly due to weak exports from China to the US more than China slowing itself. If it does lead to a collapse of Chinese growth expect further turmoil. The big question is why is the US import and export data looking so bad when people are claiming the US economy is getting stronger. Something doesn't add up and the selloff is just a reflection of the fact there is something wrong in the US data.

100% agree that the yuan will get cheaper. China is stuck between a rock and a hard place given their fixing rates with the US dollar. They can't compete with SE Asia which is benefitting from not fixing their currency. Although dumb people complain of China weakening their currency, they amazingly held their exchange rate firm for far longer than people thought they would, and probably longer than they should have.

China is dropping not because of declining growth at home but because declining US imports. If China actually sees a big stall in domestic growth look for a bigger global market walloping than has just occurred which is more like a big burp than anything catastrophic in the US markets.

Rates should rise regardless of the Federal Reserve to account for default risks not inflation. This is bad for everyone but understandable since current rates hardly make up for any bad loans. Likewise, the Federal Reserve will be the last to raise and many are now estimating they aren't going to raise at all, just like they haven't for the last 8 months.

Complacent is an understatement about the Federal Reserve these days. Terrified is maybe a better description since they recognize that they have abandoned Keynesian economic theory and if a market downturn happens they have nothing. QE some say, but they are already realizing QE is not going to do much and is not sustainable or reversible. Eventually they may raise rates only to act like they are leading rather than following rising rates or because enough economists force a vote at the Fed to raise rates regardless of what Yellen wants.

Undoubtedly raising rates this late in the cycle is dangerous because a downturn is inevitable regardless of Fed actions. This makes their self-made predicament even more blatant and economists will mark them in history as one of the most stupid Feds in history. And they would be 100% correct, given their disregard of all economic theories besides maybe Eva Peron's.