A trader reacts to the fallCOLUMBUS, Nov 20 (11W Financial Wire) - Columbus Gold Pants futures suffered their sharpest one day drop in history today as investors moved with the advancing line for the game.
After opening at $9.41, a mass sell off left the miniatures at $2.11, which reflects their lowest value since the awards were first introduced in 1934.
The fall is the latest in a relentlessly steady decline in value since peaking at $350,000 in mid 2001 and many city residents are staggered heading into what should be the biggest game on the calendar.
"Typically, the market is impervious to external forces in the economy at large, but the collapse of the auto and banking industries coupled with the sad state the Wolverines find themselves in was just too much," said Brutus Sanderson, Gold Pants strategist for J.P. Morgan Private Bank. "We’ve gotten into a full-blown, self-feeding downturn."
The stress put on the market has prompted city officials to setup support lines and offer other services as Franklin County prepares for the influx of 100 additional golden charms late Saturday afternoon.
Gold Pants Futures: 1978 - 2008"I've never seen anything like it. It's nothing like the Cooper years when the Pants were impossible to get your hands on. Today, thanks to Tressel, just about everyone in central Ohio has a pair of Gold Pants," Woodrow Kovar, Dean of Ohio State's Fisher College of Business said when reached via phone.
Though analysts urged patience, none were willing to speculate as to when the market would improve.
"It goes right to the top. With the success Tressel has had against Michigan and the current state of the program under Rodriguez, I'm willing to bet that we see more losses before things get better, " said Stan Jackson, lead analyst for Marlon Kerner & Co., a brokerage that specializes in tracking Gold Pants.
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