It’s Monday morning April 2. In the wee hours as well as during the weekend our president delivers another blistering tweet storm trashing Congressional lack of action on DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), threatening to blow up NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) if Mexico doesn’t get tougher on border security from their…
Tag: Jeff Sommer
Take something beautiful and drag it through the gutter
When I saw Jeff Sommer’s column, “Scoping Out a Phantom Recession”(May 24, 2015, NY Times), I thought I was in for a beautiful treat–the New York Times calling out an economist for a miserable call. And, initially that is what I got–Sommers taking the Economic Cycle Research Institute to task over making a highly confident…
Session 109–Fear and Loathing on Wall Street
It never ceases to amaze me how rapidly market sentiment can shift. Last week was a perfect example; from ‘Fear and Loathing’ at the beginning of the week to a “Calm sea and Prosperous Voyage” at weekend (May 23, 2014). Of course, when this happens it is usually the media driving the train, picking news…
Session 99–Nasdaq Meltdown: Shades of Y2K
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…
Session 82–“A Correction Is Coming!” Part II
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…
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 52–A Twofer “The Dreaded Taper” Part II and The Media Gets It Right Again!
If there is one thing that seems certain, Fed tapering of QE is coming and it is now media obsession number one. This will continue until it becomes fact (a fact that the market probably has already priced in). The Fed could probably end quantitative easing “cold turkey” without a whimper from the market, provided…
Session 51–Stunning Revelations From Mutual Fund Land!
Since the market began its precipitous decline in 2008 and until January of this year, $418 billion came out of equity mutual funds. According to Lipper Analytics, January of 2013 broke this streak of net redemptions with a $14 billion net inflow. At the same time Lipper reported net new bond fund purchases were $34…
Session 45–“Earnings Season”
Before venturing into one of my favorite topics, “Earnings Season”, I thought it might be useful to explain my reason for creating kortsessions.com. I started my blog to offer a sensible counterpoint to the 24/7 media/ political/ punditry cycle and its continuous barrage of bad news, misinformation and fear mongering. Most of this is noise, doing…