Jon Quast

Stocks are near all-time highs, but investors are shaking like a leaf.

Motley Fool Money starts now.

From Fool Global Headquarters, this is Motley Fool Money.

Welcome to Motley Fool Money.

I'm Jon Quast, joined by fellow Fool contributor Lou Whiteman, as well as by Motley Fool analyst Emily Flippen.

Thank you both for being here.

We're going to talk Warren Buffett and Elon Musk in a moment.

But first, let's talk about fear.

So, there's a thing called the Fear and Greed Index, and it tracks investor sentiment.

And today, Friday, November 7th, is the 21st consecutive day that it's measured fear or extreme fear.

And it's actually measuring extreme fear today.

Now, the market goes up 10% annually on average.

It's up 14% year-to-date.

So, these are above average times, and yet investors say, hey, I'm scared right now.

I want to acknowledge that fear, and I want to ask both you, Lou, and Emily, what exactly are investors afraid of?

Emily, we'll start with you.

This is Day 38 of the government shutdown.

Is anything contributing to fear from that?

You mentioned layoffs, and I did want to acknowledge that.

October layoffs, around 153,000 jobs cut.