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Collapse Of The Stock Market Essay

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In 2010, the American economy was struggling to bounce back from a devastating collapse in 2007. The housing market had collapsed and economists were baffled. The stock market did not entirely crash, yet the economy still could not be stimulated. For the most part, much of the financial industry was left unregulated, allowing banks to loan money to people trying to buy houses, with no guarantee of the money being returned. With a low interest rate of 1.24 percent, people were looking towards the housing markets as an investment. The low interest rate sparked a demand for both mortgages and housing, expecting the prices of houses to rise. However, in 2004, the rates began to rise. By the end of 2004, the interest rate was 2.25 percent. …show more content…

The intention behind this by the government was to stimulate the economy by buying back treasury securities as well as taking treasury securities out of the market. By buying back treasury securities, people would be forced to invest in something besides treasury securities, aiming to stimulate investment in businesses. This investment in businesses would then increase company’s cash flow, allowing businesses to hire more people, lowering the 9.6 percent employment rate, and thus bettering the economy. However, the effects of the QE2 initiative were largely inconclusive, as inflation seemed to rise afterwards. A gallon of gas pre QE2 started at 2.64 dollars opposed to the 3.50 dollars after implementing QE2 (Chu 2011). QE2 was meant to stimulate the economy in a new way that had not already been attempted after the start of the 2007 economic downturn, but it was heaving criticized by many. In 2010, the economy was struggling internationally, not just in the United States. Cisco Systems, Inc. is an international company, but it was not immune to the devastation of the economic downturn. According to Yahoo Finance, in September of 2007, Cisco’s stock price was at 33.23 dollars. By March of 2009, Cisco’s sock price was sitting at 14.18 dollars. However, almost every stock was struggling at this point in a depressed economy. While Cisco’s stock did lose more than fifty percent of its value

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