Friday was the crowning moment of a bad week. Caterpillar came in with weak earnings and fell 5%. Such a stalwart collapsing was enough to fold weak hands on the anniversary of Black Monday 20 years prior. Forecasters of gloom raised their arms in victory as the Dow shed 2.6% for the day. I wrote […]
Tag Archives: market timing
Getting Killed By Leverage
Yesterday’s article on leverage sparked conversation. It’s the conversation that’s always sparked by leverage because you invariably have to say that “it works both ways.” Andrew Tobias pointed that out in his inestimable The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need. Wade asked: If the index falls 50% and you are leveraged 100%, don’t you lose […]
Now They Say We’reClimbing The Wall Of Worry
Inflexibility makes for bad forecasting. The best forecasters possess an ability to change their minds on a dime, the moment it looks like they’ve made a mistake, and to re-formulate their assumptions. The worst forecasters maintain their initial forecast even as its reasons disappear, thinking that the market should have done what they predicted and […]
Too Many End-Of-Year Bulls?
John wrote: I’ve been following the debate on whether the pessimists are correct or not, and so far the market is going our way after your bullish call [one month ago]. I have no idea what will happen next. However, my one comment is that I worry about the “sure thing.” It is “common knowledge” […]
Stock Experts In Typical Disagreement
The following exclusive report is from Dave Van Knapp of Sensible Stocks, a frequent contributor to this site: It’s not unusual for “the experts” to disagree on where the market is headed, but the mid-summer credit crunch seems to have sparked a special debate. Here are three expert points of view culled from last Friday’s […]