Yo-Yo stock markets lack conviction

Hiking in a very sunny Grand Canyon today. Breathtaking and always humbling to be reminded of how small and inconsequential we humans are. Found some internet access at lunch. Stocks are generally higher today on two-guys-trading volume–nowhere near recovering what they lost yesterday. Yo-yo markets still in broader down trend. Cory snapped a few risk trade updates. The bond market is still signaling safety over risk. The new year promises much excitement.

Source:  Cory Venable, CMT, Venable Park Investment Counsel Inc.

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Year end antics add to market noise

Every year, as Dec. 31 approaches, money managers dump their losers so they don’t have to show tainted holdings in their annual reports. Here is a direct link.

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Dear Jamie Dimon

Josh Brown takes the time to enlighten the hopelessly obtuse in an open letter to banker Jamie Dimon (and his ilk):

Dear Jamie Dimon,

I hope this note finds you well.

I am writing to profess my utter disbelief at how little you seem to understand the current mood of the nation. In a story at Bloomberg today, you and a handful of fellow banker and billionaire “job creators” were quoted as believing that the horrific sentiment directed toward you from virtually all corners of America had something to do with how much money you had. I’d like to take a moment to disabuse you of this foolishness.

America is different than almost every other place on earth in that its citizenry reveres the wealthy and we are raised to believe that we can all one day join the ranks of the rich. The lack of a caste system or visible rungs of society’s ladder is what separates our empire from so many fallen empires throughout history. In a nation bereft of royalty by virtue of its republican birth, the American people have done what any other resourceful people would do – we’ve created our own royalty and our royalty is the 1%. Not only do we not “hate the rich” as you and other em-bubbled plutocrats have postulated, in point of fact, we love them. We worship our rich to the point of obsession…

Read the whole letter here. Excellent. Thanks for taking the time Josh. Although the hopelessly elite and willfully blind are unlikely to grasp your meaning, the rest of us regular folks appreciate your effort in setting this record straight.

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