Astrology Mundo

Wall Street and the media hailed the Visa initial public offering as a success after its shares rose 29% on the first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, to close at $59.50. Some of the financial press decided that the credit-card processor’s ticker symbol “V” stood for “victory,” as you can see from this BusinessWeek. com story:

http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/mar2008/pi20080319_477132.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_businessweek+exclusives

I just want to reiterate my thinking in yesterday’s post that the stock could run into problems later this year, either due to fewer transactions or pressure on fees. I got a real chuckle out of the commentator who speculated that as the economy turns sour, more people will rely on credit cards and that will be good for transaction processors such as Visa and MasterCard. Actually, most people I know put away their credit cards when times get tough. They either pay cash or don’t spend at all.