Dear rss free blog,
My ship
dodged around Venezuela and
took us to Trinidad on Monday, which we
learned at the city’s Anglican Cathedral is the day of the Slaughter of the
Innocents. There were lots of little children being told by the bishop about
the dangers of hunger for power, which King Herod apparently exhibited. I
thought the sermon was more appropriate for older people, starting with Hugo
Chavez across the waters. Or perhaps the Members of Parliament here in Port of Spain, the only
ones allowed to park across the square from the neo-Gothic pile of Holy
Trinity.
We have
now set sail after a delay. Earlier the desperate purser announced that two
passengers never made it back on board.
That
reminds me of the stock market in the waning days of 2009 which also seems to
be intent on sailing away whether or not everyone made it up the gangway on
time. But remember, this time of year sees much investment for window-dressing,
to improve the visuals in the year-end material sent out by money managers,
pension plans, and funds.
In fact, a
lot the Dec. inflows are “hot money” (according to the Chinese authorities.) USA upticks are
mostly attributable to the impact of movements into exchange-traded funds in
the final week of the year.
Will this
money stay put into 2010? Do those laggard passengers have to come on board
expensively by helicopter or can they just wait a month or two without
suffering any long-term damage to their portfolios? My guess is the latter but
we are not traders and will probably just hang on through the modest downturn I
anticipate.
However,
if we lighten up on our most enormous recent gain, there will probably be
opportunities to diversify a bit. More of my thinking follows for paid
subscribers.
