and the stodgy old Dow Jones Industrials average was behaving downright boisterously.
The firestorm seemed to have passed for the moment. But recent high-flyers were recovering to levels well below their 52-week highs, and uncertainty prevailed in the investment community. (See Ken Brown’s story, page 1.)
If the party that’s been this roaring economy isn’t over, it sure looks like the bar has closed and the coffee’s being passed around.
Which isn’t, as a fellow like Alan Greenspan might note, all bad. Perhaps some irrational exuberance has been expunged from those who not long ago figured all it took to strike it rich was to truck out a concept and put a dot in your name.
Still, there have been losers for sure in the recent market gyrations, and the suspicion here is that the fallout will become evident in the coming weeks. Some corporate names on OC’s landscape are likely to vanish, not much longer after they first appeared.
In fact, it could become a parlor game to figure out who the walking dead are,companies that either are, or will soon be, losing talent, failing to get the next round of financing or finding themselves without their hoped-for IPO exit strategy.
With the economy as strong as it is, the overall impact of these failures could be modest. Technicians, professionals and other employees will find safe haven at other, more solid companies that have been begging for help.
But I suspect some wild dreams have already gone up in smoke.
