] The Japanese experience is not unique. Bear markets
] correct in time as well as price and they typically last
] about a third the duration of the bull market they are
] correcting. The nine-year bull market in the U.S. ending
] in 1929 took three years to correct. The 24-year bull
] market from 1942 to 1966 required an eight-year
] correction. If the last bull market started in 1982, then
] history suggests the correction might not be over until
] 2006! If we measure from the 1974 lows instead of 1982,
] then this pattern would suggest 2008-2009 for a final
] bottom.
]
] As bearish as this picture is, we should point out that
] the historical examples used above to posit a much longer
] corrective period to the bull market that ended in 2000
] consist of only three previous bull markets, including
] Japan's -- hardly a statistically significant sample!

Market recovery may take longer yet

] He estimates that the Nasdaq, S&P 500 and German DAX have
] about 42%, 30% and 45%, respectively, to fall to revisit
] their 2002 lows, but the Brazilian market could fall as
] much as 58%.

Prepare for worst, market seer warns

] WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush will ask Congress
] for an additional $25 billion for military operations in
] Iraq and Afghanistan, breaking a pledge not to seek more
] money before the November election, congressional aides
] said on Wednesday.
]
] White House budget director Joshua Bolten and other
] senior administration officials on Wednesday started
] briefing key lawmakers on the plan, which would add $25
] billion to Bush's budget for fiscal 2005 starting Oct. 1.

This is almost as good as "Read my lips... no new taxes" - GHB

Bush to Seek $25 Bln More for Iraq, Afghanistan

] The movie (produced by Buffett's daughter, Susie) then
] went into sci-fi mode, taking the audience forward to the
] year 2104, when Microsoft was about to take over Wal-Mart
] and Starbucks to form MicroWalBucks, a "strategic
] alliance" to take over the world.
]
]
] In a pastiche of PlayStation and Saturday morning
] cartoons, Buffett and Munger, dressed in Fruit of the
] Loom undershirts and boxers, battled Arnold
] Schwarzenegger to bust up the alliance. The Warrenator
] and the Charlanator ended up defeating the Terminator by
] splattering the windshield of his monster truck with a
] can of Cherry Coke.
]
]
] The rest of the movie cut back and forth from animated
] shorts and satiric features to commercials for Berkshire
] Hathaway products and services -- Dairy Queen,
] Larson-Juhl picture frames, Dexter shoes, Nebraska
] Furniture Mart, GEICO insurance, Acme bricks, Helzberg
] diamonds, and on and on.

Folksy fun at Buffett meeting

] FORM S-1
] REGISTRATION STATEMENT
] Under
] The Securities Act of 1933
] GOOGLE INC.

Hopefully this will lift the markets for the time being.

Google files S-1 to go public

] TORONTO (Reuters) - Nortel Networks Corp. (Toronto:NT.TO
] - News; NYSE:NT - News) fired its top three executives on
] Wednesday and said accounting problems already under
] investigation by regulators ran deeper than expected.
] The surprise announcement from North America's largest
] maker of telecommunications equipment sent its shares
] plunging as investors speculated that an accounting
] review begun last year was developing into a full-blown
] financial scandal.

Nortel Fires CEO in Accounting Probe

] The day is coming, most likely later this year, when all
] will sink below their longer averages, some technical
] analysts say.
]
] Though analysts aren't exactly calling for a repeat of those dark days,
] some believe it's likely that another period of underwater markets is on the way.
]
] "The correction is likely to go on for another month or two," said Ken Tower,
] chief market strategist at CyberTrader, "before there's really a compelling
] reason for investors and traders to move more money from the s
] idelines into the markets."  

Sinking below average?

] Futurist Paul Saffo, a director at the Silicon Valley
] think tank Institute for the Future, said Apple's stock
] is "like Disney stock used to be": People buy it for
] sentimental reasons more than economic reasons. People
] tend to grow attached to their PowerBooks or iPods and
] end up wanting to own a piece of the company.

Apple Makes Noise (TechNews.com)

] The operator of the CNet and ZDNet technology news and
] information Web sites said Friday that it acquired
] EDVenture Holdings, the business founded by longtime
] industry commentator Esther Dyson.
]
] The move -- the latest of several acquisitions announced
] by CNet in recent months -- appears to be an effort to
] combine the mass reach of CNet's current businesses with
] the classy audience reached by Dyson.
]
] While the company will be marketing EDventure Holdings
] products to a broader audience, Ashe indicated the company
] wouldn't necessarily be repricing those products on a mass-market
] basis. Dyson will likely be contributing to CNet's News.com
] site on occasion, Ashe said.

CNet buys EDVenture Holdings

] Here's some sobering math. If the Nasdaq were to surge 50
] percent a year (like it did last year) for the next three
] years, it would not reach 5,000 again until sometime in
] early 2006. Of course, a 50 percent increase in the
] Nasdaq is not exactly the norm.
]
] Even if the Nasdaq has several consecutive years of 20
] percent gains -- which would still be above the normal
] historical rate of return for stocks -- it wouldn't hit
] 5,000 again until the beginning of 2009.

Bye Bye .com it was good knowing you. We had a blast! Thanks for the ride and good memories! Back to the grind...

Investors have learned from Nasdaq 5K