TRAFFIC hits New York next week during a rough time for the city.
New York City is the center of the financial universe, and life isn’t grand right now. This September has been very rough for the financial markets and firms headquartered just across the Brooklyn Bridge from the Marriott where TRAFFIC will take place.
What will the mood be at the show? The domain market isn’t as hot as last time the show rolled into New York, but will the stock market crash and thousands of lost jobs in the area weigh in?
New York City is surely feeling the pain. Its tax base has been obliterated and it wasn’t doing so hot even before the events of this month. Thousands of million-dollar-a-year employees have lost their jobs.
It’s not just NYC that’s feeling the pain. Make no mistake that people across the world have been staying up late at night wondering when this fiasco will end. The latest edition of The Economist shows the YTD returns for worldwide stock markets. I saw only one market that was up for the year — Venezuela — but that was in the local currency. In U.S. dollar terms it’s down nearly 30%.
People have less money in their pockets. Worse, they are concerned about what will happen next. This means they’ll try to horde as much cash as possible. Their stock holdings, much of which is for retirement, have eroded.
I’m curious how this might affect the four auctions taking place at TRAFFIC next week. If the auctions turn out anything like the stock market this week, it won’t be pretty.
Scott Alliy says
I think that the future for domain name sellers (expecially those with premium and or meaningful names looks bright)
The tougher times get the more middle aged people tend to speculate for two reasons.
Those who have lost investment money or jobs figure that
a) they need to gamble to make up for losses before retirement time
b) they have little to lose and much to gain by taking chance at the point they are at.
Network marketing is an example of a high risk industry that prospers during tough ecomomic times.
Scott Alliy says
I think that the future for domain name sellers (especially those with premium and or meaningful names looks bright)
The tougher times get the more middle aged people tend to speculate for two reasons.
Those who have lost investment money or jobs figure that
a) they need to gamble to make up for losses before retirement time
b) they have little to lose and much to gain by taking chance at the point they are at.
Network marketing is an example of a high risk industry that prospers during tough ecomomic times.
Rick Latona says
Domains are still a safe investment but prices are definately down. I’ve told everyone on my team that if we do 1 million in sales we would have done 3 million if the auction was last year.
I have news for you. My auction has already started. You can check my blog for more details.
Shane says
Wow! Great insight, Scott.