Quote from S2007S:
Are you serious, this is something I should print out and read everyday before I start my day. This has got to be one of the top 10 posts.
NEWC at 24 is pushing it.
But he may not be far from the truth ...
Lets come back to this soon. It will be fascinating, regardless !!!
remember, BAD NEWS is being priced into the market. When the markets don't move down on bad news anymore, you know its bull mode once again. What China did today on that interest rate tightening was a VERY good sign for the broad markets (for the bulls).
Remember we aren't trading current news; we're trading the future outlook, not the future's 'reality'. I happen to agree we're on potentially shaky ground and can tell you 5 potential weaknesses that will blow up the economy:
1-subprime
2-credit crunch / no $$ for consumer to spend
3-high energy and commodity costs killing profits
4-market pessimism and fear
5-poor fiscal policy in US, ie social security / medicare / entitlements / debt
And 6 potential strengths:
1-subprime and housing worries have already discounted existing multiples, and people may realize risk premium has disappeared (or closely) from the market. Everyday data points come out which put seeds of doubt into the bears' minds that perhaps the trade is over.
2-long term inflation trend is driving up earnings and will keep demand for stocks and return high. Remember (this can be construed as negative too), dow/etc. returns indexed to inflation are relatively meager and show the equity markets are really ways to avoid losing to dollar devaluation. So if this is true, continued inflation will merely continue what has always happened - dollar goes down and markets 'appear' to go up.
3-poor fiscal US policy creates huge supply of bonds, which lowers long term interest rates, which in the end makes it cheaper for companies to RAISE $$$ for investment. (leverage is cheaper)
4-energy and commodity prices in a moderate range (ie under $70 oil) that has been absorbed in the past without huge detriment may allow the consumer and company margins to do relatively well.
5-obscure data facts that bulls can spin into reasons that the economy isn't so bad: ie GM is actually MAKING A PROFIT !!!
6-China GDP growth (9-10%) will continue, and is the machine driving everything else. Even if it goes to 6%, or 4% down the road, it is still growth. That is not recessionary, and will be contagious.
So there you go. The whole thing is a massive mindfuck, and we're all trading psychology, not anything else.