Lest I appear to be a complete “Pollyanna,” I thought it would be useful to point out that, yes, there are many negatives facing the market: some real, some imagined and some not yet foreseen. I subscribe to the old saw, “no tree grows to the sky.” I am acutely aware that the current, unabated…
Tag: Federal Reserve
Session 80–“The Best Financial Advice I Ever Got (or Gave)”
We are at that time of the year when many of us turn to prediction and reflection. Predictions are HARD to do. Few in the media or punditry ever get the economy or stock market right. Having made this observation I will venture out on the ledge and make one prediction. The media will continue…
Session 78–Apres Taper, What’s Next?
The confused nature of media reaction to the market’s move higher on last Wednesday’s Fed announcement on the taper of Quantitative Easing (QE), indicates they are totally lost. They can’t figure out why the market responded as it did, up nearly 300 points on the Dow. In my world it makes total sense. Here is…
Session 77–What Made The Media Salivate In 2013
I started my blog to give clarity and perspective to the daily barrage of hype and misinformation from the mainstream and financial media. I hope my work has been helpful in that respect. As we approach the New Year, I thought a retrospective on kortsessions might be useful, a look-back on the issues that the…
Session 76–“‘Crisis’ is a state of mind”
“Stock market could be hitting dangerous triple top.” With headlines like this you don’t have to be concerned about the integrity of that “Wall of Worry.’ What is even more overwhelming is the lengths to which the authors quoted in this piece would go to make their fearful point. What is a ‘triple top?’ In…
Session 75–“Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble.”
“Double, double toil and trouble” is an apt descriptor of what the average hedge fund manager has been going through the past couple of years. To be hedged in a roaring bull market is indeed a witches’ curse. According to the Business Insider the average hedge fund was up 6% the first nine months of…
Session 74–“Buying Stocks at Record Highs: Will You Be Sorry?”
Did you see this front page story in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal (11/23/2013)? The article posits: “…whether stocks are overvalued or fairly valued isn’t the question investors should be asking. Instead, what you need to answer is this: how much can I stand to lose before I bail out?” This is very cautionary stuff, considering the fact…
Session 71–Let’s Party Like its 1999!
“Maybe Twitter was the bell!” Opening day for Twitter (TWTR–NYSE) felt like 1999. The stock was priced at $26, opened…
Session 70–“The Dangers of a Market Melt-up”
I don’t just bash the media! I like to recognize thoughtful work when I see it, and I think the New York Times, Jeff Sommer has given us that in “The Dangers of a Market Melt-up.” The piece highlights the work of economist/ strategist, Ed Yardeni and money manager/market analyst Laszlo Birinyi. Both have been…
Session 69–“Are we there yet?”
I am refering to a familiar refrain from the back seat for anyone who’s taken a passel of impatient kids on a long road trip. Now those kids have grown up and are asking “Is it a bubble yet.” Actually those kids are mostly talking heads and pundits in the financial media. It is a…