Monday, July 11, 2011

Things That Don't Tend to Happen in Bull Markets

Scanning through the financial universe over the weekend and today I was struck by how many really bad things are going as stocks reach for new highs after the pump up around the 4th of July. All of the following are not indicative of a risk seeking bull market:
-Unemployment at 9.2%, really near 16%.
-A number of banking stocks worldwide halted during trading, crashing, then being halted again.
-Ban on short sellers gaining acceptance.
-Trillion dollar/euro central bank balance sheets that some day, some way (yeah right) will have to be sold back to the markets.
-Bond yields for countries you have actually heard about climbing north of 10, 20, 30%.
-Gold over $1500 an ounce.
-Open laughter about IPO's being a joke, but still getting funding.
-Low volume upside days and high volume sell offs.
-US 10 year yield under 3%.
-Banking stocks going to zero it seems.

There are more. What is good? Corporate profits are still coming in big as cheap funding and not hiring people has done wonders for bottom lines.

At any other point in history the mess things are in right now would be cause for grave concern. Right now it's sort of an interesting side note. Crazy times.

Have a good night.

5 comments:

Johnny Balrog said...

Very Extensive Research.

GawainsGhost said...

You know, GYC, when I was 14, my friends and I went down to the Sherrif's Posse Arena to ride bulls. Some sort of Texas rite of passage kind of thing, we wanted to prove we were men.

Well, my friend's younger brother had to go first. He got on the back of this big bull, and got thrown off about two seconds later. Then that bull stomped on his balls.

He was screaming this high-pitched scream that no one could hear, but dogs were barking. An ambulance came and took him to the hosptital, where doctors operated on his balls.

This all happened about twenty feet in front of me, and I knew right then, right there, I don't need to ride no bull.

A couple of years later, we were camping in Philmont Scout Ranch, New Mexico. This bear came wandering into our camp. Everyone freaked, so I grabbed two pots and started banging them together. The bear ran away.

Think there's an economics lesson in that?

EconomicDisconnect said...

Gawains,
I would say in the first example it is better to have your balls intact rather than lose them trying to show how big they are. The second, bears dont like kitchens? Fun to comment during the day on the smart phone.

Watchtower said...

^
Looks like the Russians have invaded, lol.

WoooHooo! I just upgraded to high speed internet, this is nice.
I should have done this a long time ago.

EconomicDisconnect said...

Ha, no russian spam allowed!

Glad you moved up, it makes a HUGE difference IF you have a direct hookup or good wireless. I don't and it's driving me insane.