Friends
Well, as we indicated on Friday, the press got quite worked up about the Dow closing over 14,000 on Friday. Baron’s magazine couldn’t stop patting themselves on the back, reminding us that they have been bullish and calling for this advance. Pundits and newsletter writers really do entertain me. When they are right, they can’t get in front of a camera or microphone fast enough to let you know how brilliant they are. Unfortunately, when they are wrong (which is more often the case) no one can really hold them accountable. Oh, I guess you can stop buying their newsletter or turn the sound down when they come on the TV, but they don’t manage real money. We found out this week that some who really do manage money like those in charge of the endowments of Ivy League Schools such as Harvard and Yale, had very difficult years last year. In an up market the Yale money managers actually had a slight loss. The moral of the story is- it’s just not that easy. Ignore the pundits. They really don’t’ have anything on the line like real managers do.
Anyway, after all the fun we were bound to get the bill, and as if right on cue, the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered a loss of 129 points on Monday to close at 13,880. The S&P 500 was down 17 points to finish the day at 1495. Gold was up $4 to trade at $1676 per ounce, while oil was down $1.64 to trade at $96.13 per barrel WTI.
After last week’s abundance of economic news, today’s pullback was mainly attributed to weakness in Europe. Whatever the reason, it should not be surprising that after the latest run we have had in stocks, some folks just wanted to sell some things and book some gains. There is nothing wrong with that. Let’s see how the bulls react to the first real down day of the year.
Have a nice evening everyone.
