We had a shock to the system last Friday as the bears rushed in and took their wrath out on tech companies.
That sent the NASDAQ down by over 1,000 points and ended the nine-week streak of gains for the various indexes and averages.
This all came with a much better than expected jobs report and an unemployment rate that held steady at 4.3%.
I have to say that the wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth over the terrible economy is misplaced.
What is real is the price at the pump, to name one of the items that cost more now.
You take that with the rise in wages being short of the level of inflation and there is reason to be paying attention to your budget.
You, however, watch earnings reports come in higher than expected almost daily and you have
to face the fact that the US economy is growing and companies and making better than expected profits.
Of interest this week will be the IPO for SpaceX.
Musk is about to become the first trillionaire
He has exerted his will on the markets setting the price for the IPO Friday at $135 per share.
No auction needed here.
You only have to look back at all the doubters of Tesla and the cancel culture that was going to destroy X aka Twitter when he took over.
Never forget it was his rocket that brought back the stranded astronauts from the space station.
He revolutionized rocket launches by retrieving the rockets by having them return and land on the launching pad for reuse.
I am not saying that the price may fluctuate just as Tesla has done but the man is on a heater and betting against him just hasn’t worked.
We are 100 days deep into the conflict with Iran and seem no closer to a resolution than we have ever been.
I appreciate negotiations but sometimes there are parties that only respond to real consequences.
I am about to head out on two separate trips and it is going to cost a bit more than I would like, but such is life.
I tend to see many that decided to do whatever was planned, damn the cost.
In my case, I will sacrifice little but can join the group and gripe about it anyway.
Like that will change anything.
It is something we do though as a society.
We talk all the time and change very little.
I am one of a certain vintage that investing in equities that provide a dividend is attractive to take care of the everyday bills.
It is a strategy that is falling way out of favor.
Many companies would rather take their earnings and plow that back into growth for the company.
That really makes sense until the next slump in the economy.
In boom times everyone is full speed ahead.
When it slows and the money comes out of the market, people need something more than promises to keep their savings invested.
It is the real basis for the concept of 60% stocks and 40% bonds.
Today many investors are all in as they have nothing but great returns for the last three years.
This will turn as it always does.
The constant war between greed and fear is one sided these days.
Good luck on assuming it is different this time.