So Much To Write, So Little Time

This last week was hectic with the job, the house, and other conflicting priorities.  So if you missed a couple of post it's because we didn't send many.  We will have a bit today for you today as we get ready to abandon you again.  That's right.  I leave for Tokyo tomorrow.  Ya see I just don't know what to believe about what is going on over there so we thought we'd fly over, check out the rolly rumblies of Tokyo and then drive over to the Fukushima Nuclear Plant and stick our head inside and look around a bit and report back to our readers exactly what is going on.  Actually I am going over on PADI business and will be on the ground about 40 hours I think before coming back home.  Despite the brevity of the trip, we will probably not be in a position to post so you get another lite week of reading from yours truly.  So let's get to it.

Cronastics Chart

Below is the updated Cronastics chart. 

 This chart is still young as it only has about 45 data points, but it does reflect the actions of the market.  We are confident this will never be a predictive tool, but may be a sound trend chart.  Again the data points are derived from the IBD accumulation/distribution ratings for the DJIA and the NASDAQ and the % of NYSE stocks over their 200 day average.  It is interesting to note that IBD called the market uptrend under pressure on February 28 when the chart peaked.  The they called it in a confirmed down trend about March 1-2.  The chart falls of precipitously from there.  Then last week they called the market in an uptrend and you can see the chart start is uptrend back above the -2 figure.  We are now in a market uptrend under pressure according to IBD.  It will be interesting (Ok I know its not that interesting, but I have no life so give me a break.) to see if the chart continues to creep up.  If it does than all we have to do is read the IBD and we can stop doing this dorkey chart.

 This week in Barron's

Let's get the special report out of the way.  It is that time of year when Barron's ranks the top 100 FA (Financial Advisors, ever wonder why we use abbreviations then take the time to spell things out?  Us too.  Perhaps we have multiple person writing skills and those that know what an FA is can understand those that that don't have the other us to explain, but I digress.)  Any therapist out there want to take a shot at that one?

First we looked and we are not on the list.  DISCLAIMER ALERT, we are not now nor have we ever been a member of the FA (You know what it is now so I won't waste your or our time to spell it out.  It takes what too much time to spell everything out for you folk so if you don't know, but I digress again) profession.

We do recommend you pcik up this weeks issue as in the special section about the top 100 FAs, they give not only their picks, but their strategies which I find very informative and interesting.  (See paragraph 2 about no life.)

In the Main Issue Alan Abelson takes us on an interesting journey into his literary past to share the fact he actually read "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand and places Congressman Paul Ryan (of Path to Prosperity fame) in the story some how but concludes with a presumption we agree with.  The debt ceiling has to be increased despite the democratic (operational definition not the ideological definition.) opposition.  Even the Parliament of Whores in Washington knows the catastrophic reality if we do not bump the ceiling to at least 15-15.2 trillion by the end of May.  He finishes his piece by explaining an interesting investment strategy that one of our readers has been telling me about for a while and this is to pick the dogs of the market as they might be able to have make overs and rule the world.  Hutch you would love this article. 

Then there was a timely sidebar that explained that men are out spending women at the retail level for the first time in a long time.  (They do not say how long.)  Well I can attest to that.  I stimulated the economy this weekend as I left my comfort three Bose Head Phones somewhere between San Francisco and the keyboard I am typing on and I will not get on a 12 hour flight with out them.  Which reminded me, my old ESQ watch (Division of Movado) is on the brink so I got a new watch.  Then I though about a suit bag instead of a roller so we got one of those.  I felt guilty about coming home with a watch so I got my lovely wife a nice Nike jogging jacket.  So today I did spend more than my wife, but its only 3:00 so the day is young.

Santoli, one of my favs, writes a nice piece about everybody being in the boat.  Yeah he is saying things are so glorious, watch out.  Don't get me wrong he is not bearish, just cautious.  We won't bore you with the four or five data points he cites, but it is impressive in a way that makes Michael Michael.  Good read.

Making Money has a lot to do with not loosing money

Last Friday, while meeting with one of our many contractors, he know I just closed the market at 1:00.  He asked, "So did you make any money in the market?"  I explained to him that making money in the market has more to do with not loosing money in the market than it does with making money in the market.  Our goal everyday is to minimize our losses and protect our gains.  Friday was a great but expensive effort to do just that.  We lost more than we were used to last Friday.  We have gone back and looked at everyone of our stupid decisions and realize the stock did nothing wrong, the market did nothing wrong, we made some dumb decisions and we learned from them.  It won't happen again.  Stocks are just little pieces of ownership of a company.  The value of those stocks or shares are really determined like a popularity contest.  It really is not much different than Dancing With The Stars or American Idol.  You have the judges (analysyts and hedgefund managers) who use their expertise to tell us what they think.  Then it goes to the masses based upon what we know, think, or assume.  That makes a share popular or not.  At the end of the day we want to find the dancer or singer who has some talent and will drive everyone to vote for them.  At the end of the season, we take our profits and wait for next season to begin.

Salve Lucrum