Yo-yoing stock market shouldn't affect Hi-Line

During the past few days, since Standard & Poor's downgraded the United States' credit rating and the stock market has been all over the place, plummeting 600 points Monday, rebounding a bit on Tuesday, then dropping again this morning.

Many people working in the financial realm on the Hi-Line feel that Havre will be spared most of the effects that other areas may feel.

Willard Fladager, financial adviser for Waddell & Reed Inc. in Havre, said that most people are going to see hardly anything at all from international financial turmoil.

"At this point I don't think we're going to see a whole lot of ripples up here, " Fladager said. "What our home office is telling us is that it's going to be pretty jumpy this summer, but we expect the markets to rebound this fall.

"This is a short-term effect. Realistically, our managers will be buying and selling during this period. Our customers will be thinking more long-term. "

He said that the market appears to have lost some of its footing after last week's downgrade and international incidents over the past four years.

"What you're seeing is that the market is trying to find a bottom for what is going on with the credit crisis, not only in the U. S. but in Europe and other sectors of the world, " Fladager said.

The biggest thing he felt could have an effect on the Hi-Line would be in how Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway gets hit, but, he said, so far there has been no major problem.

Bill Keller, vice president of Independence Bank, also sees little difference for Havreites between today and before the downgrade.

"From our standpoint, it really hasn't changed our day-to-day operations and hasn't changed what we're doing, " Keller said. "It's kind of business as usual for us. "

This far from Wall Street, the echoes are heard, but that's about it.