Living on the edge

 “Still very nervous, sometimes on the brink of panic,”- is the best way to describe the mood in August on the WSE Some analysts say that being an investor is a permanent fight between greed and fear – if this is so, the last couple of weeks on bourses all over the world were about fear. The reason - which one could have read about in last month’s stock exchange report – is still the same: anxiety about US mortgage market problems and the possibility this could damage not only the US, but the world economy too. As news concerning the worries broke, indexes plunged all over the world. The WSE and z∏oty were affected as well. The biggest sell-off took place on August 16th. The WIG 20 blue-chip index dropped by over 4 pct, small and medium companies’ indexes fell by over 5 pct. However, relief came the next day – when the FED unexpectedly cut the discount rate from 6.25 to 5.75 pct. In the wake of this move, the markets rebounded, includin