Welcome to the end of the week and another edition of Happy Hour! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your end of the week roundup of all things interesting in the land of money.
Dow Run
You ever get that feeling you missed you boat?
The Dow is on a 10 day winning streak. The S&P 500 is near all time highs. And finally today we had normalcy when it came to an end. Hopefully today was the start of a much-needed correction. The idea of a market that only goes up, doesn’t end well. Even great markets ebb and flow to new highs. I’m all for a higher market. I just don’t want to buy it.
That’s why the past few weeks have been tough. Nobody wants to miss out on a chance to make money. It’s why discipline is so important when investing. Putting money into the market just because its been going up isn’t a good reason to buy.
We’ve seen great economic data this year in housing and employment numbers. Even the retail sales number was good. All signs point to an improving economy. But we still need wage inflation. Until then, the economy and market has its limits.
Happy St. Patty’s Day
St. Patty’s Day has come a long from its humble begins as a Catholic feast day in Ireland. It’s now a day for many people to come out of the woodwork to be Irish Catholic for a day. And drink…excessively. It’s amateur hour at its finest.
Now, not everyone takes the opportunity to overdo it. But enough think it’s an excuse for drunken debauchery. Or, it starts off innocent enough and just happens to end that way.
You see, usually around this time we start seeing the first signs of spring and take it as a chance to dust off our winter cobwebs to get out for a while. Because of that, it has become a make or break day for bars across the country. Having worked in the industry in a past life, I can speak with absolute certainty that bars and restaurants decked out in green will easily do five to ten times more business this weekend than normal. And the above reason is only part of it.
The reality is, St. Patty’s Day is one of those rare days during the year where bar owners can raise prices 20% or more without batting an eye and have no drop off in sales. In some cases, the extra revenue is what keeps the place afloat. So while you’re out enjoying your corned beef, cabbage, and green beer, keep in mind you’re making the bar owner’s year.
Last Call
- The 19 Best Investment Blogs You Can Learn From – Robert at the College Investor was kind enough to include this site in a great list of investing blogs.
- Investment Diversification – A Look at the Basics – a great example of the power of diversification to lower risk and potentially increase returns.
- Stock Market Bubble Signs – if you can learn to spot market bubbles, you can protect yourself from the fallout.
- The Truth About Market Timing – an argument to focus on risk analysis instead of market timing. One I can agree with.
- Are You a Better Investor Than This 5th Grader? – take a gander at that essay. At the very least, we all should have a similar well thought out thesis for owning a stock.