Must-reads: OWS jobs, Apple production reports and four stages of investment knowledge
Here’s what I was thinking and reading about when I wasn’t getting ready for a run to the border tonight — El Paso, that is.
Investor Sentiment isn’t contrarian – Really interesting market psychology and sentiment analysis from my old friend Jordan Kahn. Today, he writes a great Flip-It, “I think the important thing that many investors miss about monitoring investor sentiment is that it isn’t ALWAYS a contrarian indicator. I like to say that investor sentiment is usually directionally correct during a market trend, but very wrong at market turning points.”
Apple weighed down by production reports – How many times have we seen this replay? I remember getting cocky emails from one of the guys from CNBC’s Fast Money back when Apple was in the $20s — Yes, it’s gone up 1500% since then — explaining to me how Apple was a great short because the company was going to miss and blow up because consumers weren’t going to spend as much and some early version of the iPod supposedly wasn’t selling very well and there was proof in the “production reports”. I’m looking to start adding to my Apple long position around these levels, though I’m in no rush.
The Four Stages of Investment Knowledge – An oldie but goodie from one of the best portfolio strategists extant, David Merkel. Great quote, ” Investing is rewarding over the long haul; you can never tell when the game will get easier. On a personal note, my worst time in investing was June-September 2002. I lost big, but I did not lose confidence in my management methods, and made it all back and a lot more by the end of 2003.”
The Greek austerity plan thus serves as a dress rehearsal for the U.S. – Really long but really important piece about the ramifications of the ongoing bank-bailouts/government-austerity systems being touted as “the only way to save the system”. As the authors put it, “This is not how economic democracy was expected to work during the 19th-century drive for Parliamentary reform. And by the early 20th century, social democratic and labor parties were supposed to take the lead in moving banking and credit along with other basic infrastructure into the public domain. But today, from Greece to Iceland, governments are acting as enforcers or even as collection agents on behalf of the financial sector – as the Occupy Wall Street movement expresses it, the top ‘1%,’ not the bottom 99%.”
Most “Occupy” Protesters HAVE Jobs … Unemployent Much Lower Than In Tea Party – Fascinating title and statistics, even though you know what they say about statistics. Point is, I guarantee that if you have not been to an Occupy Movement in person, then you have absolutely the wrong picture about what these protests are doing and why and also no idea who these people are. Stop by one and see for yourself.
