Sitting And Market Watching

The Owl Bar is a classic bar, dating back to the 1900’s. It’s located in Mount Vernon, around the corner from Investment U. Why the tourism brochure? Well within that bar there are stained glass windows with a quote as follows.

“A wise old owl sat on an oak. The more he saw the less he spoke. The less he spoke the more he heard…”

Appropriate considering there’s lots to see in from today’s market movement, but not a lot to actually “hear.”

Unlike the last few days of red, we actually saw some green at today’s opening. Up almost 1%, it stems losses over the past 6 days as the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and other indexes dropped over 9%. Time will tell if today marks a turning point.

Many technical traders have been waiting for a test of the November low. Without it, they don’t know whether we’ve truly hit bottom. Traders and bargain hunters may be the main reason that we’re seeing an uptick this morning.

Because it sure isn’t based on any fundamental triggers.

Between Stanford’s fraud, an unfit mother of 14, a rampaging chimp, and some spotty B-grade news stories, there isn’t much to go on for investors. I wonder what’s on Oprah…

Jobless numbers came in about where they were expected to be, and most of the biggest market movers haven’t really looked like they were being accumulated or sold. Again, not a lot to go off of.

So what’s a prudent investor to do? On days like this, if you aren’t already working on laddering in or out of a position, it might be best to sit and watch. And if you’re lucky, you might just “hear” a bit more.

It may be the best way to prepare for tomorrow.

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