Markets face 'irrational pessimism' Friday March 6, 1:45 pm ET By Rachel Beck, AP Business Writer New extreme in US stock sales leads to 'irrational pessimism' among investors NEW YORK (AP) -- You've heard of "irrational exuberance," right? That's the expression Alan Greenspan coined more than a decade ago when he warned that investors could be bidding stock prices too high. His worry was that escalating asset values were trumping reality. These days, the opposite seems to be the case. Call it "irrational pessimism," a fear that stock prices are headed in only one direction -- lower and lower -- because asset values and profits seem certain to fall. Caught in the vortex of this new hopelessness are once-pristine blue chip stocks like General Electric Co., whose share price has plunged 45 percent in the last month to below $7 a share. Investors have become increasingly worried that losses at its financing arm could put a crippling dent in the conglomerate's capital base. http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090306/na_us_wall_street_blues.html