Last night (really this morning) the sound of the wind buffeting my window woke me, just about 2:47 a.m. Each gust only lasted a few seconds, and then died down, but within a minute or so another came, died down, and then another, and so on for about 30 minutes. Then nothing. The sudden bursts of wind just stopped.
As I sat down to write this, I remembered that, and then another thought popped into my head – those quick gusts that hit my window are like the news gusts that hit the market. They come with a sudden and quick fury and then they are gone. The problem was/is they kept/keep coming back. The difference between the news and the wind, though, is the news is both good and bad and the wind is, well, just the wind; it is bad only when it causes physical damage. The news is bad when it changes perception and the market reacts. Both the wind and the news, however, are annoying and can keep you awake at night …
Speaking of the news, I love this famous quote from a famous Texan, “Fool me once … fool me twice … can’t get fooled again.” It works perfectly for the news, and it seems the market is following this corrupted adage. For every piece of good news that comes out these days, the market says, “Nope. Not buying.”
The news out of Europe today is hopeful, and the U.S. GDP data shows improvement, yet the market clearly ain’t buying it. This is understandable, as for the last two years, both Europe and the U.S. GDP have promised much and then taken away the promise. The market must feel jilted to some degree, and, most certainly, the market does not now trust the promises. The only way to regain the lost trust is for Europe to show some follow through and the U.S GDP some consistency. There’s that dang word again. Yes, some consistency would be nice. Like the wind last night, it is not so much the buffeting that is problematic; it is that the wind came furiously and then stopped, each time leaving me to think I could go back to sleep in peace. If the wind had simply blown steadily, I might have adjusted to the consistency and fell easily back into slumber …
D.R. Horton Inc., the top U.S. homebuilder, posted a first-quarter profit that beat market expectations, helped by a surge in orders indicating a stabilizing housing market, and said it was looking at spring selling season with “cautious optimism.” Horton, which focuses on lower-end homes for first-time homebuyers, had been hurt as a massive overhang of used and foreclosed homes have resulted in lower pricing power for builders of new houses.
Yesterday, the news that drove the market down was the new home sales data. Today, the above news comes out, and it makes one wonder, “What the heck is going on?” Day in and day out, the conflicting news is crazy making. Really, world, how about some consistency? No, really, how about it?
Oh, forget all this nonsense I am spouting. Last night, gusts of wind kept turning on and off and it woke me up and did not let me fall back to sleep, at least not fitfully. I am sleep deprived, and it is all because of the stupid wind. Last night, I kept hoping the wind would steady, so I could simply dream of candy canes and lollipops.
Whoa! Those last words above tell me I need a really good nap.
Trade in the day – Invest in your life …
