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John Crudele

John Crudele

 Business

Why the stock market has taken a hit lately

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Published Nov. 19, 2018, 10:03 p.m. ET

The stock market got creamed again Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling 395.78 points to 25,017.44.

The decline comes after a couple of solid gains during trading last week.

I want to remind you of something I’ve been saying for a long time. Traders push stock prices higher on options expiration weeks. And last week was one of those times.

But once expiration week ends there is no prop under the market. So you get days like Monday. People who write about this stuff will come up with reasons for big declines — like the trade talks between China and the US going badly.

The truth, however, is that last week’s fake rally set the market up for Monday’s drubbing.

I’m afraid I have been wrong about bitcoin.

I thought the fake “currency” would be worthless by the end of this year. It’ll probably take another year before the price drops to zero.

On Monday, bitcoin’s price dropped below $5,000. Why? No reason — except that bitcoin is a confidence game, a fraud, and people must have lost confidence in it for some reason last week.

BTW, I made my prediction about bitcoin early this year, when it was selling for about three times what it is today.

Oil prices keep falling. And that means gasoline prices will continue to decline — although with some delay so the gougers can make the last of their excessive profits.

I suggested in my last column that the federal gasoline tax should be raised so that money will be available for infrastructure improvements across the country. This way we won’t be going further into debt for these necessary repairs.

The biggest objection from readers? The fear that the tax money will be used on other things and that roads and bridges won’t be repaired.

I sympathize with that concern, as I said in that recent column. But there comes a time when we have to start trusting that our elected officials will keep their word. And I’m sure that some skilled lawyer can write up the tax increase in a way that makes the hike disappear if the money is misused.