SANTA FE, N. Mex., July 31, 2012 – It’s been a chaotic few days for Mr. and Mrs. Maven as our trip out west went awry in sunny and terribly hot Amarillo, Texas. There, our doughty Saturn VUE let us down with a clunk as we pulled into our hotel there on Saturday afternoon. One of the front struts we’d had replaced just a week prior to our departure had decided to go kerplunk once again, making further driving futile.
Since Amarillo is closed up tighter than a drum on Sunday, no mechanic was available to work on the car. So, after making arrangements with our hotel to leave the car there, we rented an Altima from Enterprise and headed on to rendezvous with our friends in Santa Fe where we’ll be for the rest of the week, reviewing operas for our other WTC column. We’ll have to cut the trip short, though, and head back to Amarillo to confront what could be another big repair bill. So much for this week’s excellent adventure.
Today’s market could be telling us that the bulls’ latest excellent adventure is over as well on Wall Street. Stocks are dribbling down roughly half a session after the open (we’re still confused, now operating on Mountain Time), probably because all the (false) hopes that had been raised in Europe last week are proving to be just as fleeting as the other false hopes that have been raised before. This is why we’re still mostly staying in cash while on the road.
We’ve lacked connectivity in our rental house out here until this morning, due to some confusion over the secret password that we now seem to have got working. So we hope to get you a few more posts our here before we limp back to Amarillo to confront reality. Would that the world powers that be could have as crisp and efficient plan for confronting a problem vastly more important than a busted left front strut on an obsolete car.
In this case, it seems to be the Western way of doing business that’s becoming obsolete, and none of the guys who got us in this mess—the bankers or the politicians—seem to have a replacement strut for our Western economies.
In any event, today is likely to be a relatively nothing day unless someone says something stupid or Iran or Syria decide to do anything more idiotic than what they’re doing right now.
At any rate, we’ll take leave of you right now and get back as we can on this messed up but still relatively fun excursion we’re having out West. We intend to survive. Whether the bulls can survive this week as well, however, remains a big question as long as Europe—and our own White House—refuse to deal with the problems that need to be solved without screwing the taxpayers—or those who are left—any more than they already have.
Stay in cash, my friends, except for a few of the usual high-yielders. This is still a treacherous, algo-driven, HFT-driven market, and you’re traveling at your own risk if you put too much money on the table where these thieves can see it.
Disclaimer: The author of this column maintains several active trading and investment portfolios and owns residential and investment real estate.
Illustrations, charts, commentary, and analysis are only the author’s view of current or historical market activity and don’t constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any security or contract. Views, indications, and analysis aren’t necessarily predictive of any future market or government action. Rather they indicate the author’s opinion as to a range of possibilities that may occur going forward.
References to other reporters, analysts, pundits, or commentators are illustrative only and do not necessarily represent an endorsement of such individuals’ points of view. If specific investment vehicles are mentioned in any article under this column heading, the author will always fully disclose any active or contemplated investments in said vehicles.
Read more of Terry’s news and reviews at Curtain Up! in the Entertain Us neighborhood of the Washington Times Communities. For Terry’s investing and political insights, visit his Communities columns, The Prudent Man and Morning Market Maven, in Business.
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