Pam Toubo calls it an "obsession."
Since the federal government a month ago began promising billions of taxpayers' dollars to bail out the country's financial system, Toubo, 51, of Imperial, rises before 7 a.m., and immediately heads for her computer.
Toubo wants -- needs -- to see what's happened overnight in Far East markets, what's happening in Europe, all before U.S. markets open at 9:30 a.m.
"I feel a need to watch, intensely. That began when the bailout began and everything became just so volatile," Toubo said.
Toubo's passion to stay on top of the financial markets is not isolated. Numerous investors feel the need to stay close to their computer or television, to see how much the market rises or falls, to try to understand the factors influencing what's happening.
"I think there are a lot of intense, hard-core market watchers today because the market affects everybody out there, in 401(k)s and other retirements. Plus, the evening news story usually starts out with the market. So I think now people who really didn't care watch more than ever," said Mike Samuels, financial consultant for BPU Investment Management Inc., Downtown.
Samuels, a consultant for 27 years, has never seen people as scared. "Yet, this is just a great time to buy," he added.
Some might call needing to watch a market that lately has been five times more volatile as the norm the same fascination people have when passing a car wreck: They can't take their eyes off the carnage.
Friday was a prime example, as the stock market closed out a horrendous October, its worst month in 21 years, with a big advance as more investors took chances on stocks turned into bargains by waves of intense selling. The Dow Jones industrials rose 144 points on the day after rising as much as 274 and falling 62 -- but ended the month down 14.1 percent at 9,325.01.
"I try to be as informed as I can be," said Rich Sanderson, 78, of Shaler. "I learned when I was in the military, the Marines, to observe, and I learned playing football in school to know where you are at all times."
Sanderson satisfies his need to know by reading, watching television and listening to the radio, adding the worst group to watch or listen to is politicians.
"We've been through this before, many times, including the Great Depression," Sanderson said. "The thing to do now is to hang in there -- we'll come back. It might take six months or a year to get back to what's normal, but where we go from here is up."
Personal trainer Mark Selekman runs Mark Selekman and Associates, a "successful fitness business," and he expects his investments to be just as successful. They must be money makers.
"I'm a computer watcher, have been since the market started to go kafluey, diligently watching the market within the last year or so," said Selekman, of Mt. Lebanon. "I watch my funds very closely, I take stock of my positions, watch the flow of money in and out. I'm very attuned to where the money goes and where it comes from."
Toubo admitted the stress is high. "It's hard watching your net worth drop, but if you're going to be in the market, you have to be able to take the ups and downs," she said.
Sanderson and Toubo said they're anxious to invest more in the market, once the volatility eases. "The old cliche, you buy on bad news is an opportunity," Toubo said. "It's a buyers' market."
Selekman said some of market-related things he sees on his computer "freaks me out," that he's always trying to figure out why traders are ultra-sensitive, to "what's driving the market down 300 points before noon."
"I feel like grabbing some financial advisors and throwing them on the floor; I'm mad at greedy CEOs for what's happened," Selekman said "Today, the sky is slightly falling."
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