Maybe it’s just that I’m tired after a bit of travel, or perhaps it’s the downtown smog, but I’m just not in a happy mood this afternoon. The week is ending on a low.

I’m talking of course about the latest stock market news (which I’ve been blissfully disconnected from for the last day or so).

Here’s the damage (in case you too have been out of the loop). The markets are down again! Just when we started to think they’d perhaps hit a bottom, no, they’ve gone further south.

Here’s how they are stacking up:

Microsoft (green) is holding up OK, compared to the Dow (blue) and Nasdaq (yellow), whilst Google (purple) is feeling some pain and Apple (red) is getting smashed.

Surely it must getting close to buying time soon!.

OK, I’ve got to catch up on some sleep now. Perhaps this is all a bad dream.

Microsoft stock has weathered the current economic downturn pretty well we have to say. But that hasn’t stopped it hitting a few new lows over the last 2 weeks.

With a market capitalisation under $200B now, and expected forecast cuts coming, this really is a stock to look at buying soon. Wait for the results, and most likely a further fall, and then start buying up we say! (And thanks to WinBeta for the links)

Microsoft have strong product suites across multiple areas, and must surely be a strong contender when the markets to pick up (but as usual take our opinion on financial matters with a grain of salt). They will endure this climate well, and be ideally placed to pick up innovative technology companies cheaply in the coming months.

Well here’s a big surprise.

Bill Gates thinks we’re heading for a ‘fairly significant recession’. He suspects the unemployment rate may even hit 9%.

Scary times? Yeah. Brace yourself.

Sorry to be continuing the doom and gloom.