At the risk of being sued by Street.com
It's happening again. That confluence of incredible earnings news, massive price target raises and a market where everybody is bullish but not fully invested. What a recipe for a conflagration. Reminds me of that thing you learned in school about old paint-soaked rags stuck in a sealed can: spontaneous combustion.
That said, I find myself back on that Holland Tunnel diner griddle -- last night it was remarkably empty at 8:30 p.m. -- and the eggs get burnt way too fast for my taste. In other words, when I see everything on my screen up two and three points from the get-go, I want to wait. I want the specialists and the market-makers to do their magic, taking stocks up too high and then bringing them down to levels where they can bring in their shorts and I can buy at less-elevated levels.
In a superheated market, you will see this pattern all of the time. Sure, maybe today will be the day it goes straight up. Sure, maybe today is like the day after the Gulf War began, where prices opened up and never looked back.
And if that happens, I will have to be happy with what I am long. I can't pay up here. Somehow, an hour and a half from now, maybe when Barton Biggs hosts his conference call for Morgan Stanley customers, I am confident I will get a better price for the stuff that is going bonkers on my screen right now.
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