My apologies to the French and the late King Louis XV, for slightly reworking a phrase attributed to him, “Apres moi le deluge” (After me the deluge). The king had it right. Within 18 years of his death the French Revolution erupted. A better word for “deluge” might be “cataclysm.” Apres “Brexit” le deluge? Based on…
“Brexit” = Nirvana?
How so, Nirvana? Well, for a small subset of humanity it is a state of bliss. That subset is the media — general, political and financial. CNN, FOX, MSNBC and CNBC were all over it with a cornucopia of expert/pundit testimony adding to the panic of the day. Rachel Maddow, geopolitical/economic expert that she is, opined,…
Preparing for the next disaster
Once again we find the market in ‘batten-down-the hatches” mode, reflecting the uncertainties of a looming Fed meeting this Wednesday, the ‘Brexit’ vote in the UK next Thursday and the end-quarter-focus on earnings. Stir in the always-brilliant presidential election political discourse, a triple-witching hour this week and the horrific news from Orlando and you have…
“Is the market calling the Fed’s bluff?” — Simon Hobbs
Simon Hobbs, co-anchor of CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” went on to query his guest pundits last Friday, “Is it (the market) playing a game of chicken, going up in the face of a likely quarter point increase in the Fed Funds rate this June?” In an obvious attempt to accentuate the negative, Hobbs, the good…
Inciting Bad Behavior
“Did you hear about the NATO plane downed by the Russians? No! Markets are a mess. Everyone is selling or, at least, trying to, if their broker is up and running!” The speaker of these lines (a young professional woman) in an ad CNBC runs for Interactive Brokers goes on to ask her dinner date to excuse…
“El-Erian’s warning to the world”
The Warning Mohamed El-Erian, Allianz’s Chief Economic Advisor, thinks that most investors, institutions and retail, are operating under the assumption that there will be no more Fed Fund rate increases this year. His take is that there are likely to be two more in calendar 2016. OMG! Of course, my reaction is, ‘who cares?’ Rate increases,…
More bad news folks, Mercury’s in retrograde!
And, when Mercury is in retrograde, according to the astrology crowd, it is not a good time to make decisions about finances, love, communicating, contracting or just about any human enterprise. Thank you Angela Fritz (atmospheric scientist and WP Deputy Weather editor) and the Washington Post for educating me on this (People are freaking out…
“I’m mad as Hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore”
This has become a regular theme in the 2016 political cycle. And it was a famous line uttered by fictional network news anchorman, Howard Beale (the late Peter Finch) in the 1976 motion picture, Network. This is not only a theme with the electorate, but it also seems to be working its way into the…
“What is at risk if Doha oil freeze deal fails?”
I’d say, ‘not much’. Of course, that depends on who you are rooting for: the oil producing countries (many of whom are not our best friends), or the small segment of the S&P 500 (only about 6.8% of the year-end, index market capitalization) engaged in energy production and exploration, or the 93.2% of the S&P…
Beware of Pundits Bearing Wet Blankets, or …
How to take a silk purse and turn it into a sow’s ear in one easy lesson. I give the prize to CNBC … more specifically Bob Pisani and Art Cashin (with runner-up honors going to Barron’s Magazine). This exercise might be especially instructive for kortsession followers with short attention spans. You may have forgotten…