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Non-Tech : The Critical Investing Workshop -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Uncle Frank who wrote (334)	10/19/1999 2:03:00 AM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 35685

Volt, Thought About You. <g> Sense Out Of Nonsense by a Wall Street Jovial staff reporter Jovial Headquarters: somewhere in the U.S.A. - As seasoned investors, we learned a long time ago the first perverse rule of investing: what's good for Main Street is bad for Wall Street, and vice versa. So, at 0830 when the Labor Department released September's economic numbers, you figured you had it licked. According to The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, "Wage pressures accelerated beyond expectations, however. Average hourly earnings, a key gauge of inflationary pressure, grew by seven cents to $13.37 in September, much sharper than the two-cent gain in August and far surpassing expectations of a three-cent advance," their biggest gain in a decade! This was good news for John or Jane Q. Public, because they're livin' larger, and great news for you, as you prepared to short the market, but bad news for the Wall Street Establishment, because inflation scares the you know what out of them. You call your broker and order 100 shares of a stock you consider overvalued to be shorted at market open. Your broker says it can be done, and with the adrenaline rushing, you can taste the profits. It's 0930, and they're off! You were right! Your stock plummets right out of the gate; "correction, correction," you scream! For about an hour, your stock, and the entire market, seems to be unsure of what to do. In fact, the movement is so ambiguous, you're sure a surge in either direction is out of the question. Ah, but you forgot one thing, one deadly thing. Who else was shorting the market based on this textbook windfall? That's right, a whole lot of other innocent individual investors like yourself who still believe in a stock market that conforms to logic, common sense, and fairplay. Surprise! At about 1030 the market, and your stock, begin to pound upward for no discernible reason. You can't believe it! "What changed," you scream at a smug Joe Kernen on CNBC, who proceeds to rub salt in your wounds by reminding you of how foolish it has been to be bearish in this market. All of your promising gains are gone, swept into the pockets of the big boys and girls who move the markets not based on economic principles, logic and common sense, but on the moves that you, Mr. & Mrs. Retail Investor, make. You think like the next guy or gal, like the herd, and they know that, and use that to make mincemeat out of you. Remember this, the market can not be expected to react "logically," and its NEVER been fair.