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Remember when Nasdaq 2500 seemed impossibly low? Welcome back to cruel reality. These days, with few analysts willing to call a market bottom, financial reporters outdo each other with dire assessments of how bad things are and how much worse they can get. Maybe Morrissey should do a concert on Wall Street; the self-pity can't get much worse.

The markets' closing numbers were the same in every city, but you wouldn't know it from the headlines. It was the Dow's worst monthly performance in four years, said MSNBC. "3rd quarter worst for stocks since '87," read the Denver Post, repeating a popular figure reached by tallying the Dow and S&P's percentage losses. The New York Daily News counted percentage losses for the month only and declared it the worst September since 1937. Everyone predicted a lousy September 2002, so the phrase "self-fulfilling prophecy" does spring to mind.

So does the phrase "gloom and doom." "Every day for the last three months, the market has erased $73 of wealth, including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, for every person living in the United States," said the San Jose Mercury News. "Countless investors are starting to wonder if stocks will ever go up again," wrote USA Today. In a more plausible statement, TheStreet.com's Aaron Task said recent declines "demonstrated once again the folly of investors' repeated attempts to pinpoint a bottom" and "disabuse(d) them of the idea that the best time to buy is when things look worst, if only because recent history has shown stocks can go from terrible to awful and beyond."

OK, breathe. Go read the comics or something. Feeling better? Good, because there's more.

The New York Post, in small enough words for everyone to understand, made the public service announcement "Beware! October Is A Very Bad Month For The Stock Market." And you shouldn't take candy from strangers, either. The Post's John Crudele, a market curmudgeon before it was in style, warned, "This market is very dangerous, even if things look like they couldn't get any worse." Detroit Free Press columnist Susan Tompor agreed that "the next round of statements could indeed look pretty nasty."

We have to agree: the stock market is bad. The economy is bad. It's going to get worse before it gets better, and that may take a while. The "bottom" is, technically, zero. Be cautious, yes, but don't let the media's bipolar disorder ruin your day. Just like dot-coms weren't really a new economy, a bear market isn't the end of the world. - Jen Muehlbauer

No Happy Endings in September
http://www.thestreet.com/markets/aarontaskfree/10045171.html

Bear drags stocks deeply into den
http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/us/2002-09-30-bear-bottom_x.htm

Market's September is worst since 1937
http://www.nydailynews.com/business/story/23183p-21985c.html

Dow posts worst month in 4 years
http://www.msnbc.com/news/534548.asp

Market's Worst Quarter Since '87 Crash Limps to a Close
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/01/business/01STOX.html

For Dow and S&P, Worst Quarter Since '87
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24961-2002Sep30.html

3rd quarter worst for stocks since '87 (Denver Post)
http://tinyurl.com/1q3i

Market's tumble persists, capping worst three months in 15 years
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/4186771.htm

Stock Market Quarterly Review
http://online.wsj.com/page/0,,2_0861,00.html
(Paid subscription required.)

Beware! October Is A Very Bad Month For The Stock Market
http://www.nypost.com/business/58389.htm

SUSAN TOMPOR: Bad news is, the beating isn't over yet
http://www.freep.com/money/business/tompor1_20021001.htm

Former Global Crossing chairman Gary Winnick will appear before a Congressional committee today. It won't be pretty. CNN predicted he will plead the Fifth. Most other outlets expected Winnick to testify.

Impetus for all the coverage was yesterday's release by the House Energy and Commerce Committee of memos indicating that Winnick was in the thick of the company's suspect dealmaking. A committee spokesman said, "If he tries to portray himself as an out-of-the-loop ceremonial chairman, we intend to remind him that he is under oath."

The memo that got most of the attention was one from then-CEO Leo Hindery to Winnick in June 2001. Hindery warned in colorful language that the company was heading for a fall. The Financial Times, Washington Post, and New York Times all ran a quote from the memo comparing telcos to salmon. Hindery urged Winnick to unload the company -- "without looking like we are shaking our bootie all over the world," quoted the two Timeses -- and resigned shortly thereafter.

One little detail from the memos is guaranteed to make Winnick's time under the television lights even more uncomfortable. Among the companies he used his influence with, to help close deals, was Enron. All the reports mentioned Enron, but the New York Times seemed to be alone in noting that Global Crossing never completed a deal with the fallen energy giant.

The Wall Street Journal looked beyond the obviously embarrassing details of the memos to point out that, despite such evidence, the gun might not be smoking yet. "Prosecutors would still need to prove that he knew the transactions were improper and used them mainly as a way of enriching himself by boosting the company's stock price artificially," the Journal reporters wrote. The AP noted that all of the memos were dated after Winnick's last sale of Global Crossing stock, $123 million in May 2001.

Despite his $734 million in stock profits, Gary Winnick was not among the five telco executives being sued by New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer to return their ill-gotten gains. Is Spitzer betting, with the Journal, that Winnick might walk away clean? - Keith Dawson

Global Crossing: What Did Winnick Know?
http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/09/30/time.crossing.tm/

Winnick Was Told Of Telecom Risks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24886-2002Sep30.html

Memo Indicates Global Crossing Chief Knew of Troubles
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/01/business/01GLOB.html

Global Crossing's Winnick Knew About Swap Deals
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1033426396710785953,00.html
(Paid subscription required)

Documents show active role by Global Crossing chairman (AP)
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/4187381.htm

Suit Seeks IPO Profits From Five Executives
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24921-2002Sep30.html

Fund giant Fidelity set to eliminate 1,695 jobs (Boston Globe)
http://tinyurl.com/1q3h

AOL Chairman's No. 1 Ally Turns Into His Biggest Foe
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/01/technology/01AOL.html

More living without benefits: Health insurance given less frequently at work
http://www.freep.com/money/business/insure30_20020930.htm

Beware al-Qaida, Branch is on to you (Battle Creek Enquirer)
http://tinyurl.com/1prs

Hewlett-Packard and EMC Sue Each Other (Reuters)
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-tech-hewlett-emc.html

Dealing With W
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/01/opinion/01KRUG.html

Broadband Disconnect
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21649-2002Sep30.html

Judge Dismisses $800M Cell Phone-Brain Tumor Suit (AP)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22712-2002Sep30.html

Microsoft Puts Meat Behind Security Push
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,561985,00.asp

Copyedited by Jim Duffy (jimduffy86@yahoo.com).

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