Isn't the stock market just acting normal for this time of the year?

[zyzzyva57]

Oh, sure, last year we were recovering from the hurricane (there is always an issue to jiggle the numbers), but doesn't it just seem to you America from now through the first trading week in 2007 just goes into slow-mo, except the last week in December when the big shots realign their portfolios for the Q4 and then taxes, particularly in the last trading day of the year when there a major sell-off


http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=$SPX&p=D&yr=3&mn=0&dy=0&id=p12695875015

[TonyM]

Perhaps, but the dow wasn't at an all time high last year, and the market has been on quite an uptrend since August, coincidentally or not that is when crude started falling, and imo December will bring a return to the focus on energy and perhaps spark a broader market pullback than some may anticipate.

[Svenwulf]

gold is looking shiny. a weak dollar has brought us this high, but if it gets too weak, that nasty inflation thing will come back- higher prices for imported goods. add that up with slowing growth here and people on this board can remember back to 15-20% mortgages. think we were in an unpopular, drawn out conflict overseas back then as well. useless history books.

[zyzzyva57]

I just get the feeling things kinda, sorta remain the same in the end

Oh, sure, the words change (the stock symbols, for example), but the musical "The Year that Was" is the same basic musical we have enjoyed for the last 2006 years

New "singers" appear on this stage--the rebellious 9/11, Miss Katrina, xBox, PS3, and so on--but all in all, looking back, the play was the same

Dust-ups occur during any year, some get out of hand, a lynch mob mentality forms, and then it fades away and reality kicks in until the next dust-up

Ultimately, it just seems to me a big secret of making money on Wall Street is how well you anticipate bubbles starting and bursting, or just sticking with a mutual fund so your wealth just oozes up--Cramer calls this being diversified in 5 Best of Breed stocks so you just average out and up, slowwwwwwly