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Year in review: Wall Street gets weak

Brokers became targets of investor ire, while the fed worked feverishly to bolster spending with rate cuts. Will 2002 be any better? No one seems willing to venture a guess.

CNET News staff
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CNET News staff
2 min read
 


The year Wall Street got weak knees
The Internet bubble went "pop," and markets fell


Pessimistic "short" sellers ruled Wall Street in 2001, while newly humbled analysts, the former stars of the Street, tumbled into the shadows.

Historically optimistic technology CEOs became gun-shy about predicting future earnings and sales. Their bravado was drowning, like so many companies, in vats of red ink.

Washington made its mark on the financial markets, working to give business a boost through a series of interest-rate cuts and economic stimulus packages. But this was to no avail, as late in the year, a panel of economists confirmed the obvious: The economy is in a recession.

What's going to happen in 2002? Few venture to guess. Some analysts predict a second-half recovery, but most, especially those who have been burned calling the bottom, are staying mum.

Short funds rule the roost
What's up with Wall Street's drive toward short-selling tech stocks? A manager of the Potomac Internet Short Fund discusses the tall and the short of it.
April 2, 2001
Lose your investment? Sue an analyst
Q&A Lawyer Jacob Zamansky may have opened the floodgates for investors to get retribution against brokerages and Wall Street analysts who touted dot-com stocks as they plummeted.
July 20, 2001
Remember the '80s
No, not the Atari, big hair, Flock of Seagulls version of the 1980s, but the time when tech stocks foundered for five years. Market strategists look to that era to understand the current environment.
August 7, 2001
RegFD: Will companies sing or clam up?
Six months on, Wall Street hashes out the impact that this new rule has had on the free flow of financial information.
April 24, 2001
Economic package may stimulate tech spending
President Bush's broad tax plan could trigger IT spending and boost the tech sector, analysts say.
October 11, 2001
Hooray! It's an official recession
Believe it or not, an academic panel's grim-sounding announcement about the economy is reason for relief.
November 28, 2001
Rate cuts offer no quick fix
Free-falling interest rates may be a boon for the economy at large, but they probably won't bail tech companies out of their deeper troubles, economists say.
October 3, 2001
 

• Terrorism--new risk in filings
• Street looks to past disasters
• Falling techs sell to insiders
• NYSE vs. Nasdaq: Tug of war
• Lender a pitfall or beacon?
  		• Blodget bids Merrill Lynch adieu
• "Quiet periods" are a choice
• Congress eyes analyst conflict
• R&D untouchable in tight times
• Online travel, games lead techs