At the moment I am pretty light stocks again. We have had a good run and I have been as usual selling into strength the last few months ($TSLA $YELP $GOOG for example).
I am mad watching my Latin American bellweather internet stock I own give back $30 from it’s post earnings high, but this happens when you hunt and own the big winners.
I generally let price take me out of the market and when I am sitting on cash, I get nervous. I read a lot more looking for new ideas and catalysts and I spend too much time worrying about being underinvested and when and how to put money to work.
The ETF mad rush has me nervous and mad. It makes a lot of common sense for investors to use ETF’s, but now that everyone owns them and wants them I am skeptical.
If I look at any chart of a leveraged ETF, I see down and to the right. That just makes me mad. We have given crack to traders which may or may not be fine, but do we know the real risks of the daily rebalancing. If there was an FDA of the stock markets would they have ever been approved?
In the financial space the thieves that almost broke us are busier than ever putting wet blankets over their messes and making the banks more complicated than ever. The leverage on their balance sheets has been working for them, but let’s be honest, leverage is a tactic, not a strategy and they get paid bonuses for sticking with it as a strategy. We took away their downside in 2008 and they remain fearless. I am all for good banks…I even owned some Bank of the Internet $BOFI…it’s just that good banks seem more than fairly priced.
The only person that has not sued Jamie Dimon at $JPM is me. Read this piece if you don’t believe me.
Our friends at Goldman are back at their pure evil ways. Yesterday they botched up some HIGH FREQUENCY trades…but their free lunch continues in the markets. Kidd Dynamite always rocks it with his rants.
The payment space is awesome, but I worry the real innovation will get gobbled up by $V and $MA and it seems that everyone is on on that trend and trade for now.
The rise in interest rates has me a bit nervous, but it’s the damn Junk Bond market that has me feeling like the markets could crack.
As for the tape overall, it is pretty damn strong. I have a long list of stocks that I could own on any good showing of new strength. In the end, the tape is what gets me long and I am too small to have feelings about the Goldman’s, the Dimon’s and the people chasing leveraged ETF’s and overowned trends.
The awesomeness of the ‘Tape’ and the endless opportunities in the markets are what get me juiced to go to work everyday. Don’t let the player hate get you down.