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Sound Advice: May 8, 2024

Wall Streeters Have Comments on Everything.  Ignore them.

In my early years in this industry, I had the good fortune to work alongside many extremely bright people.  They all had something to say, but one comment stood out: “You may be a fool, but you don’t need to prove it.”

Keeping that in mind, my daily reading of the silly noises coming from the exalted levels of the financial community always leads to amusement.  Whichever the medium, the outpourings, with rare exception, are embarrassments.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with commentary on daily markets or the economy, even though the ostensible reasoning may be questionable, but when the verbiage gets into thoughts about what lies ahead, that becomes a guaranteed minefield.

Here are some interesting quotes:

“Today’s market uncertainty is a reminder of the value of humility.”

How is that helpful?

“It does feel like an inflection point where things could go either way.”

Translation: The market could go up or down.  Shocking revelation!

The market could hit a new milestone if the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches 40,000.  However, investors may want to brace for a market pullback and other uncertainties.

If 40,000 is a milestone, is 40,001 a milepebble?  Another version of “the market could go up or down.”

“Finally, the S&P 500 has hit escape velocity.  This is another big cap, liquid market which is at all-time highs. There is no overhead resistance.”

That comment was made on April 3rd, probably by someone based in Cape Canaveral. Over the next two weeks, the market dropped almost 5%. Failure to launch.

“The price it is trading at doesn’t make any sense, but price and value don’t have to be related in the short term.”

These comments are all very silly.  But it gets even worse.

Wall Street titles typically include examples such as Chief Portfolio Strategist, Director of Portfolio Management or Director of Technical Analysis, but here’s the winner:

Director of Predictive Analytics.

OMG!

 

N. Russell Wayne

Weston, CT

Any questions: please contact me at nrwayne@soundasset.com

203-895-8877

www.soundasset.blogspot.com

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