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Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.

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  • LOL - I'll have to get that movie. Ted, you really do come up some great links. Keep em coming! Thanks & Regards
  • Never heard of that movie. I'll pass.
  • edited May 2014
    Yeah - Don't know about the movie. Doesn't appear to be too "deep."

    The article appears well written without a lot of overblown "hype" like so much of today's press. (Perhaps the film-shot was intended to be the attention-grabber instead?)

    Like all of us, the writer's trying to make some sense of the markets. He lays-out in matter-of-fact fashion the pretty lackluster returns to date. He relates potential stock market returns to what's available in "safer" cash/bond vehicles. And, he quotes some money managers on their feelings while referring to the nervousness many people feel about the lofty valuations.

    Generally a well written piece, I think, and like the film, nothing very deep.



  • TedTed
    edited May 2014
    @hank: In my opinion, E.S. Browning is an excellent financial writer.
    Regards,
    Ted
  • Sideways may be better than going down but markets usually don't go sideways for too long.

    Seems to me, the sentiments for 2014 are very similar to 2010 after the big 2009 pop. Also a mid-election year.

    People were expecting a correction and there was a mid-year swoon. Everybody rushed in to capitalize on the correction and the year ended up reasonably high. Punished those that stayed out of the market, afraid of the correction. The euphoria continued into 2011 when we got the bigger correction that people weren't expecting. The markets were flat that year in annual returns.

    The same story might repeat in 2014/15 if there aren't significant events.

    Sideways was a very good movie. Not as multi-dimensional as The Big Chill, but not as mind numbingly self-absorbed as My Dinner with Andre or any Woody Allen movie. Not for people who like more bullets than words in a movie.

    Reference to that movie in the article just because of the title seems as relevant (or not!) to the article as Ted's video linking here.:-)
  • edited May 2014
    I've had my best (dollar-wise) January to May ever, but it's sure not because I had a clue. At the beginning of January I felt stocks were doomed because many sentiment indicators were at all time records of exuberance - more than in 2000 or 2007. Yet here we sit at all time highs in some of the major indexes. So I have been dead wrong. I'm still bearish on stocks and primarily because of Investors Intelligence sentiment indicator, the one indicator that steered me through the ups and downs since the 80s. This time around in the new era of easy money forever maybe it has lost much of its past effectiveness. We shall see. Still, I see complacency all around, especially considering the bull is five years old plus. Fortunately, I don't trade/invest on what I think. Because if I did, all I would be living on now would be my meager monthly SS check. Not sure where I will go when I get shaken out of my junk muni fund, an area that is severely overbought, but will let price action be my guide. Were it not for the likes of NHMRX, emerging markets bonds and more specifically DLENX is where I would be now.
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