Sunday, November 16, 2008

Come Monday, It Will Be Alright?

As I predicted, the G-20 get together appears to have turned out to be nothing more than a stage show and a social networking gig for clueless world leaders. The booze and chow was great but as they fly home on their private jets nothing was accomplished other than the fact that they want to blame hedge funds for the world's economic ills, world hunger and global warming. Nothing substantive and I'm not surprised. The meeting lasted six hours. Hey, a good brisket takes eight. Please.....

The retail numbers this week were horrendous and the consumer appears to be imploding. As the consumer is 70% of this broken economy the future looks shaky at best, and if you think employment is going to get better anytime soon, then you also think pigs fly. Vikram Pandit is giving a speech to his employees at Citicorp tomorrow morning where he will announce mass firings. The number was 10,000 on Friday and I am now hearing that it will be as high as 40,000. Can he fire himself? Folks close to the story think his days are numbered as well.

4 comments:

Chuck Barnes said...

Having been a survivor of both hurricane Ivan and Katrina...u should a made ur TARP blue! I agee on all points other than that!

Chuck Barnes said...

Having been a survivor of both hurricane Ivan and Katrina...u should a made ur TARP blue! I agee on all points other than that!

Lionel said...

On other blogs I've noticed a chorus of traders who are anticipating a massive upswing. While I understand that markets do "snap back", so to speak, and do not go straight down, I'm trying to wrap my head around the idea that there's going to be an upcoming period of such sanguine news that the market rises over a long stretch. Much of this expectation of an upswing seems to be related to knowledge of the Great Depression, when massive gyrations did in fact occur. But... was there anywhere near the same data available back then? Were investors buffeted by bad news but kept buying anyway? Or was there a dearth of news, so they essentially bought in vacuum?

PS - greatly enjoy your site. Technical traders seem good in explaining what just happened. I like reading someone who's trying to understand long-term trends.

Jack said...

all the numbers appear to lean towards more downside.But,I wonder how much of this is a NY thing or WS event? Ate out both nights last weekend and three nights this past weekend. Every night each restaurant was packed. Was in houston galleria last weekend,not my idea,and it was like Christmas packed. Had to go into a mall in Austin Tx this weekend,could barely find a parking spot. And the weather was spectactular,yet all these people are indoors spending money? Or are they all tire kickers?
Driving around Houston and Austin the past two weekends it seemed every restaraunt and shopping parking lots were packed.
We keep wondering where this recession is? Everyone I know is bummed out but I still people spending like crazy down here.
Guess I will turn on CNBC and blow my brains out.

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I am a former hedge fund manager, broker and capital markets dude who now trades for his own account. I love what I do. I will try to post some stocks and an occasional chart that looks attractive for entry.I will also try to point out the idiocy of conventional wisdom and the lack of value added by the mainstream financial media. These postings should not be viewed as recommendations.