Rumor is that the stock market is off to its worst start ever. Or so I hear from the commentariat stoking the fear quotient again.
If only more people took satisfaction in being able to buy stocks for less than they could two weeks ago, it would be a drastically different market.
A bizarro market.
One where investors cheer falls and jeer gains. Where they are grateful their money goes further because prices fell. And Doom and Gloomers predict huge gains every year. And on the rare chance it comes true, panic would set in, pushing prices higher. The aftermath of that trauma would sow seeds of lingering doubt stowed away idle in the subconscious. Only, the doubt would surface every time the market rose too fast in a few short weeks.
But then, that would be weird. And we’d get some bizarro returns.
So maybe it is a good thing that stocks are one thing that people hate to pay less for?
Last Call
- Probably Everything You Need To Know About Bear Markets – Irrelevant Investor
- Short-term Luck Versus Long-term Skill – J. O’Shaughnessy
- How to Avoid the Value Trap – Institutional Investor
- Things I’m Pretty Sure About – M. Housel
- Keep Calm And Step Forward – L. Swedroe
- With Indexing, Being Dumb Can Be Smart – J. Rekenthaler
- Latest Marks Memo: On the Couch (pdf) – H. Marks
- Trend Following In Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Backtest – Philosophical Economics
- What made Charles Darwin an Effective Thinker? Follow the Golden Rule – Farnam Street