Comments on: The end of the tech stock party

By: Yadgyu, Harkeyville, TX

Yadgyu, Harkeyville, TX — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 02:12:14 +0000

iPods do not cost much. People will buy them if they want them. The same goes for anything else. Americans are used to living paycheck to paycheck.

Sure, profits may drop for a few quarters for some companies, but people are never going to stop wasting money. There is a sucker born every minute and as long as that sucker has a dollar in his hand, some company will gladly sell that sucker something.

If companies can't get Americans to go into debt, they will just set up shop in China, India, or some other foreign market and find new customers to exploit.

Money is neither created or destroyed. It only moves from one person to the next.

By: new zealand

new zealand — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:24:46 +0000

years gone by people use to save their money when they wanted to buy a new tv or go on holiday.

today ipods, flat screen tv's and big cars are bought using debt.

debt has to be repaid.

once its repaid, people will begin to buy again.

this is nothing but a typical cycle that should have occured many years ago but didn't because safe lending practises were ignored by blinded managers who only saw another quick profit opportunity (using other ppl's money) without considering the risk associated.

By: Dave Livingston, Bethel, CT.

Dave Livingston, Bethel, CT. — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:17:00 +0000

We need to re-frame this. The NDX has runup over the Nasdaq because of unique company specific stories. HP’s performance is itself company specific – after the post-Carly hangover Hurd has established a clear strategy and business model, cleaned up the structure and execution and put an organization in place that’s aligned and held accountable. They may take a dip here as a general thing but if they continue to execute well against a viable strategy/Bmod then they’ll be a good l.t. value investment. You also need to understand which lines of business will do well in which geographies – bearing in mind tech is capex and reflects the general economy. If you’re interested in a longer-term view try…

Tech Ind Perform: http://tinyurl.com/2ufpqf

By: Brant Williams, Fresno, CA

Brant Williams, Fresno, CA — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:59:34 +0000

"People are determined enough to own one, it’s not a big ticket item like a tv, they don’t mind going further into debt to acquire one."

And of course the credit to do so will always be available….right? Wrong.

The leverage in the financial sector, and the breadth of this credit crisis is not yet apparent. Within 6 months, banks will be taking major writedowns…. not just on mortgage based debt…but on credit card debt portfolios. When commercial paper siezes up, where is liquidy for revolving debt going to come from?

Assuming people will just borrow more is to live in denial. That is not the issue. The availability of credit is the issue. A year ago I was told I was living in fantasy land when I said the credit to refi a jumbo mortgage might not exist in a year. People are so accustomed to undeserved credit, that it is taken for granted.

By: Vincent Rogers, Atlanta, GA.

Vincent Rogers, Atlanta, GA. — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:56:52 +0000

I pods are not immune to oil prices. Consumer spending will slow down and ipod sales will drop. Not to mention the credit crunch people are feeling. The worse the economy gets the more people be in higher debt. There will be no room to purchase an item such as an Ipod.

By: Bobby Walsh, Charlotte, NC

Bobby Walsh, Charlotte, NC — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:37:32 +0000

I full expect aapl to get back to the recent highs by the time Macworld starts in January. So I don't think using Apple for this story makes much sense. Google will also get another run-up as their mobile OS gets closer to reality. That's in the next few months too.

Some products are immune to things like the price of oil. iPods for example. People are determined enough to own one, it's not a big ticket item like a tv, they don't mind going further into debt to acquire one.