Backdrop for this stretch’s Domain Auctions is Shaky

This stretch’s onslaught of domain auctions couldn’t have come at a more unstable time.

Call it the week of domain name auctions: two from Moniker, plus auctions from Rick Latona Auctions, Aftermarket.com, and Sedo.

Also call it the week of economic uncertainty.

Yesterday afternoon the backdrop for the Aftermarket.com auction was knowledge that President Bush was going to address the nation regarding the financial crisis just a few hours later. In that speech, he warned that failure to swiftly pass his proposed financial injection would result in “financial panic”. No one ever wants to hear those words, especially from the leader of the free world.

Earlier in the day McCain stated that the crisis was so bad he was suspending his campaign to return to Washington. He also wants to postpone Friday’s debate.

It was a see-saw day that began with news that Warren Buffet invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), suggesting everything would work out just fine. It ended with the president warning of financial panic.

Hardly a day to overcome psychological barriers and empty your pocketbook on domain names.

A year or two from now we may look back on this stretch and think that the buyers were brilliant. They got domains at good prices. They also shifted money out of a currency with downside risk and parked it into an “international good”.

With results from the first three auctions mediocre at best, today’s Moniker auction will be extremely notable. It’s possible that Moniker’s slot of Thursday afternoon will prove to be perfect. Today Obama, McCain, and legislative leadership is meeting in Washington to hammer out the details of the bailout. If word gets out that it’s going well, we could see the stock market and economic hopes rise this afternoon. That could carry the auction with it.