Trading Goddess! (and market stuff)

• I received a friendly invitation from Trading Goddess to contribute blog entries.  Why not?  
• As an introduction, I am Muckdog and I blog at The Learning Curve.  I became interested in stocks and investing back in 7th-grade math class where the teacher had us each pick a stock at the beginning of the year.  Whoever had the stock with the greatest appreciation at year end, didn't have to take the final exam.  I didn't win.  But I did learn how to read the stock pages and followed the business news.  While I do trade individual stocks and options, I mostly invest in ETFs and time the market over the intermediate term. 
• It's the end of September, and everyone seems to be gearing up for the "strong months" of the year for the stock market.  After all, the stock market never goes down in the Fall, does it?  Is that a safe assumption here in 2007?
• Market seasonality would suggest that we avoid the market in the late Spring through Summer and get long in November.  Or modify that a bit and after Summer weakness, we should look for a market bottom sometime in late September through October to provide a launching pad for the seasonaly strong months, but that "market bottom" doesn't seem to be on the radar.  The market seems to have bottomed in August. 
• Unless this is a "double top."  LOL.  It is October.  And October is sometimes a scarey month for the market, but it all ends up with bagfulls of candy for everyone at the end, right?
• The level of fear in the market is still quite high considering the stock market is close to taking out the previous market highs.  The equity put-call ratio isn't as high as it was near the market lows in August, but it's not showing complacency in the market, either.
• The Fed is cutting rates.  Just like cockroaches, when there is one rate cut, there are probably more. 
• Yeah, Bernanke is cutting rates with unemployment below 5%, the economy growing at a slow yet sustainable pace, and wages rising.  So is this to bail out the market, help folks who are cash-strapped with mortgage payments and credit bills, and/or grease the 2008 election skid for the GOP?  Kind of interesting.  Times are that bad.  So maybe it's just a slight easing on the brakes.  I think rates have been too high and the jawboning of inflation threats ridiculous.
• President Bush spoke out against the expansion of the children's free health care thing Saturday morning on his weekly radio address.  The Democrats countered with a 12-year old boy saying how much he liked his doctors and he pleaded with President Bush to sign the bill.  I was thinking, "Why don't you bug your parents to make a career move so that they can purchase health care insurance?"  Social programs should be a temporary safety net until folks get back on their feet, not a replacement for personal responsibility.   [/vent]
• Okay, I'll keep the political comments to a minimum. Until 2008.  Don't you wish the politicians would do the same?  Heck, it seems like they've been campaigning all year, and the election isn't until NEXT November!!!
• As you know, global warming is the biggest problem facing Americans next to torn ACLs impacting Fantasy Football line-ups.  When Trading Goddess offered an environmentally Green company car as a perk to contributing, how could I turn down a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder hybrid?  (They called it the "Spydrid" in the showroom.  How cute is that?)
• The Lamborghini Spyder miles per gallon is 10 city and 15 highway, but the "Spydrid" gives Big Oil the finger as it cruises by gas stations getting 12 mpg in the city and 16 mpg on the highway.  Actual results may vary.
• Yes I am obviously kidding about the "Spydrid."  But check out the fact sheet on the Spyder.  Estimated monthly payments of $4299 per month.  Now before you blow that off as "unaffordable," let me throw out an idea.  If you are facing a mortgage loan interest rate reset in the coming months and are upside down on your mortgage, why not let the bank foreclose, toss them the keys, and pick up the keys to a new Spyder instead?  Sleep in the car!
• As long as you have a non-recourse loan. 
• On a personal note and to follow up on friday's entry...  I didn't call her.   But the weekend isn't over, yet.  And there are beers in the 'fridge just in case.