It’s Friday April 4, 2014. I am getting ready to run out the door to a meeting and I hear someone compare the the Nasdaq mini-meltdown of recent days (down 2.6% on Friday) to the beginning of the “tech bubble” bursting in March of 2000. Unfortunately, I was not recording at the time and there…
Tag: financial media
Session 97–“Get ready for stocks to drop 25%”
This was one of the cheery headlines that greeted me this morning (Friday March, 28 2014), proffered up by those fine folks at CNBC. The expert providing the fearsome warning was private equity guru, John W. “Jay” Jordan, II. Even though Mr. Jordan is a native of my home town, about my age and has…
Session 95–Keep it simple stupid
These four words, often referred to as the “KISS Theory,” should be a mantra for many investors who have neither the skills nor time to manage their own investments. I have a very credible ally in this thought process, Warren Buffett, who is advising his own heirs to “Keep it simple…”, to invest their inheritance…
Sesssion 94–Rootin’, Tootin’ Putin
What a guy. His continued saber rattlin’/pistol packin’ stance over the Ukraine, plus continued worries about a Chinese debt crises and, voila, you have a mini market meltdown. It always amazes me how quickly the market can turn tail and run on little or no new news. On the other hand, yesterday may have…
Session 93–“10 things the gun industry won’t tell you”
Interestingly, this was the “Number 1″ searched article in this morning’s (March 8, 2014) edition of MarketWatch.com, followed closely by: 2. ” 7 signs we are near a market top” 3. “How to prepare for the next bear market” The banner headline was: “How the S&P 500 gets to 2500 next year” What struck me the most…
Session 92–Forget the Ukraine. Focus on China.
Interesting concept, but why not worry about both? It makes for much better TV. The last week (2/27/14 to 3/6/14) has been particularly difficult to write about. On the one hand we had been inundated by scary headlines on geopolitical events and weakening economic statistics. On the other hand, given close scrutiny, it has been…
Session 91–“Born Under A Bad Sign”
“Born under a bad sign. I’ve been down since I began to crawl. If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all.” This is one of my favorite tunes from one of the finest rock bands to come out of the 1960’s, “Cream”, music and lyrics by William Bell and Booker…
Session 90-In StockMarket Land, the difference between apples and oranges is often hard to discern
“Markets flooded with cash, should Fed prep to stamp out risk(Reuters via CNBC 2/21/2014)?” First of all, this is a stupid question as their mandate deals with unemployment and inflation. They are only the ‘risk police’ when it comes to risk of inflation. They can warn about “irrational exuberance”, but it is not their job…
Session 88–“The Boy Who Cried Wolf”
You know the story about the shepherd boy who thought it was a kick to, on a whim, cry “wolf” alerting his village to a wolf attack on the flock that wasn’t really happening. When a wolf finally did attack, no one paid any attention to his pleas for help. I think we have recently…
Session 87–One Foot Out the Door, One Finger on the Panic Button
I think this describes the mindset of many market participants, suspicious of how far we’ve come since the crash of 2008. The ghost of that era still haunts investors; so much so, many cut their equity holdings dramatically or totally avoided stocks (sideline money=buying power). The recent mini-correction has reinforced this skepticism and the media…