A Few Dollars More

It was all too orchestrated for me to believe. Thursday’s huge turnaround rush into the markets was just another example of investors trying to identify a bottom. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again–that is not how bottoms are formed.

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Don’t shoot the messenger. Believe me, I would be happy to find a few silver linings in this month’s gathering black clouds but it may well prove impossible. October was a brutal month for the economy and just how bad it was will be revealed over the next few weeks.

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“This has to be the bottom, right?”
“Why?” I ask.
“Well the market went up 10% in one day, that’s a record, right?”
“So?”
“I mean the elections are Tuesday. October’s over. Shouldn’t the market rally?”
And so it goes. Client after client called me this week, flush with cash, sitting on the sidelines, just panting to get in at [...]

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Today should have been another meltdown in the markets. It certainly happened overseas where overnight Japan lost 9.6 % while Europe closed off about 5%. The losses in the U.S. markets were “only” 3 plus %. You will most likely read or hear that the markets held and that a bottom is forming. Don’t believe [...]

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Who can blame the wary, weary investor? They are faced with markets that swing wildly, the averages gaining and losing more in a day then they usually do in a year. Most have lost a mountain of money and the headlines continue to spew a litany of bad news. The markets are dangerous and yet, [...]

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As the markets close the week with losses that has set all kinds of world records, you have to wonder what’s next. Will the Dow Jones, which notched up its worst percentage and point drop in its 112 year history, have a repeat performance next week? Much will depend on what happens this weekend.

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So the $700 rescue plan finally passed this afternoon. The entire process was a disgrace. While various members of congress extracted over a billion dollars in extra goodies over the last two weeks for their votes, investors lost well over $1 trillion of IRA and other tax-deferred investments as the market plummeted. That was money [...]

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Given the market volatility, I wonder if anyone is actively trading the market outside of professional traders and a few desperate hedge funds. All week they tried to stem the rising tide of sentiment which threatens to drive the markets lower. In the end they succeeded but it was a bit like putting lipstick on [...]

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The global markets took it on the chin from the beginning of the holiday-shortened week right up until the close Friday. It was the worst week in six years for world markets. The Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500 were all down more than 2 percent and if you’ve been reading this column you know that [...]

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As oil traders depart for the long weekend most of their attention will be focused on weather forecasts in the Gulf of Mexico rather than the backyard barbecue. Tropical Storm Gustav will be moving inexorably over the next three days, gathering strength with hurricane force as it bears down on refineries, drilling platforms and pipelines [...]

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