Article written by Prieur du Plessis, editor of the Investment Postcards from Cape Town blog.

Bill King (The King Report) remarked: “Now for the first time in U.S. history there is a command economy and centrally-planned stock market. So the question is: … are we all navigating this unprecedented environment bereft of any bearings or guideposts?”

So true!

Describing the battle of the bulls and bears, Barry Ritholtz (The Big Picture) contributed the paragraphs below.

“In the face of massive liquidity of QE2, there remains a firm bid beneath this market. So far, losses have been modest to miniscule, with selling pressure well contained. M&A, share buybacks, anything but disappointing earnings are an excuse to put on the rally caps. Even dips are an excuse to buy. (We are running 53% cash on specifc name selling, not overall market calls).

“The bears are bloody but unbowed — they know a correction is imminent. But the bulls have heard this line for nigh on two years, and yet still the market still powers higher. The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq are all at multi-year highs. There is a different between being early — a matter of days or weeks — and wrong. So far, the bears have been wrong.

“Eventually, the grizzlies must be fed. They have their champions, including various Fed Hawks, who are terrified of an inflationary spiral. Lacker, Plosser and Fisher may be mortal enemies of price instability, but they are friends of Yogi and Boo-Boo and Baloo, well known amongst ursines for their opposition to easy money. And easy money is a bull’s best friend.

“Even the most ardent bull knows that this too, will pass. The bears will have their day, before their next bout of hibernation.”

We only need to establish when …

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Quote du Jour: Welcome to the centrally-planned stock market was first posted on February 11, 2011 at 10:40 am.
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