- Poor North Korea. They just can't seem to stay on the front page of the news headlines for very long. First, Iran knocks them off. North Korea responds with missle launches to get back on the front page. Now, the growing conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah (or Hizbollah?) is going to bury North Korea to the back pages yet again. Kim Jong Il just can't get no respect!
- With the market tanking and all the bad headlines, I wonder if Ben Bernanke and the Fed girls will start making more market-friendly chatter? The Minneapolis Fed Bank President Gary Stern believes that too much is made over short-term forecasts, said the economy over the next two years "will look a lot like the previous two years." On average, economy growth should be around 3%, with the unemployment rate staying around the neighborhood of its current level of 4.6% and inflation staying in the benign range of the past two years although there might be short-term fluctuations.
- Jim Cramer. Lordy. Now here is a guy who runs with the crowd. As pessimism and gloom mount, Brother Jimmy says it's A Lot Like 2000, Only Worse. I've got this train-wreck button on my "Mad Money" console -- the sound effects board I use during my TV show -- and I feel like hitting it a bunch of times right now just to emphasize what this market's become. It's 2000 all over again without the snap-back because of the geopolitical stuff. He wrote this after the market close and finished the column off with More pain ahead. By the way, I think Jim is a great entertainer and probably has some good fundamental insights into some companies. I don't know how he follows so many of them, though. But I do think he runs with the crowd as far as his market timing insights. He's getting worried here again near the bottom of the trading range. Well, my opinion anyways.
- I'm going to have to read through the political blogs later. There must be some wild posting with the geopolitical stuff going on. Those with an agenda will blame President Bush as they do for everything else. Levi breaks, 9/11, hurricanes, or chewing gum stuck under the desk? Yeah, blame President Bush.
- Stock market down for the day. SP500 still above the correction lows that we saw mid-June. Also closing below the 200dma. For those folks who watch that stuff. Not indicators I use, although they sometimes act like a magnet for the market (or stocks) when I'm looking for entry/exit points. Also looks like an inverse head and shoulders in the SP500. Not that head and shoulders are reliable patterns, but some people watch that.
