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After this morning’s “insta-dump” of everything, the markets have utterly and completely turned around. That’s not great news for me, but let’s just say I don’t have any regrets about not being super-short (to say nothing of the fact I sold my QQQ puts yesterday). The ES has done the following about-face:
Once again, I find myself in a position where I worried myself silly all night that I was 125% short the market, fearing what the economic data would do…………..and then the numbers come out, and I wish I was 250% short and scold myself for my timidity.
After the CPI came in at 2.1%, hotter than expected, yields shot up…….
My fear for the future of the human race is grounded in two contrasting but related facts: (1) I am supposed to be extremely intelligent (2) I consider myself an idiot. In other words, if, based upon hard data from tests, the vast majority of people are less intelligent than me, yet if I consider myself just barely able to function and be a responsible member of society, where on earth are we all heading? I mean, come on – – I suck – – but most people suck even worse.
It wasn’t long ago that this wouldn’t have mattered at all. At any given point in human history, you could have created a bell curve of intelligence among all living humans. And yet how much has it truly mattered until recently?
In the year 1100, if you were far and away the most brilliant person in your entire village, would it have helped you at all? Would anyone have cared? Of course not! Because you just need to shovel the pig shit into a pile just like everyone else. Intellect was irrelevant. (more…)
Price on the High-Yield Corporate Bonds ETF (HYG) has weakened further since my late-January post.
It’s now trading in between major resistance and support levels of 86.00 and 83.00, respectively, as shown on the following weekly comparison chart of HYG and the Russell 2000 Index (RUT). Volumes spiked to record highs on last week’s decline and the momentum indicator has fallen below the zero level, hinting of further weakness ahead on this timeframe.
I heard on the radio that the Obamas had their official portraits unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery yesterday. I was curious to see them, since I assumed they would be grand and stately representations of the former President and First Lady. Umm, having seen them, my only response is: WA HA HA HA HA! Are you serious?!?!
