These days, I look a bit harder for something good every day, but I still look. I need to find that good thing because that thing lifts my spirits just enough to keep me flying through the day. Yes, it does take something more than coffee to get me up and keep me going.
Anyway, this morning, I found that one thing, and to some of you my “thing” might seem, well, hardly a “happy maker,” but it is. It is because I know the market playing field is not level, and any movement toward making it more level is for me a good thing, and it should be for you as well.
The staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering recommending civil legal action against Standard & Poor’s over its rating of a 2007 collateralized debt offering.
Now, I will be tickled pink if, in fact, the words above are more than just words. If the SEC does take credible and serious action against Standard and Poor’s for its corrupt, shameful, and damaging behavior in 2007, it will be a landmark in the realm of fighting market corruption. As always, we will see …
So, now that I am happy, I can view the market movement in a more stable light. Frankly, after tracking the weekend news, I suspected the market would move higher today, and since the major European markets are tracking substantially higher as I write, I suspect the market will finish on a high note as well. The reason Europe is feeling better today is that it too got that one “happy maker” to get it up and keep it going …
Weekend meetings of global financial leaders in Washington raised hopes of a change in strategy, with officials indicating that they would focus on further boosting the firepower of the euro440 billion ($595 billion) rescue fund – perhaps by allowing it to tap loans from the European Central Bank or otherwise leveraging its lending capacity.
The actual framework of that developing plan points to an argument I have been making for some time – the powers that be (those with the money) do not want the euro or the Eurozone to fail. The same mindset existed back in 2008, and after much political wrangling, hand wringing, and apocalyptic predictions, the respective fiscal and monetary policy makers announced TARP, a coordinated and huge effort to tackle the U.S. financial collapse. It worked back then and it will work again to bring the European financial mess under control.
True, the market will behave badly as the slow and tortuous process of fixing the mess unfolds, but in the end, the job will get done. True, as well, those who see massive monetary buildup and huge government debt as the end of civilization will rail against how the job does get done. Nevertheless, despite the reaction of the market and the doom and gloom crowd, the only way out is to pump money in, even if that money inflates the balance sheets of the monetary folks and swells the debt of the respective taxpayers in Europe. Yes, I am happy today …
Trade in the day – Invest in your life …
