rss

More Sellers than Buyers

“The real story of the rescue. Save the euro, must save the euro. All the world’s central banks rush to save a fiat currency. If the euro should collapse, it would demonstrate the inherent vulnerability of a leading fiat currency. The central banks and the IMF have put up nearly one trillion dollars to bail out Greece, but more important, to show the world that fiat currencies are “safe” and here to stay. Remember, the business and power of central banks lies in their fiat, non-intrinsic money – money they can create at will). To hell with Greece, the euro, therefore, at all costs, MUST be saved. In all my market years, I’ve never seen such consternation and disbelief in market action, and I’m referring to last week’s crash. Headlined the Los Angeles Times on Saturday, “Stocks’ Plunge a Troubling Mystery.” From the NY Times on Saturday, “Origin of Scare on Wall Street Eludes Officials.” Front page of Barron’s — “Don’t Let Europe’s Problems Fool You. The Bull Market Will Regain His Footing.” The Saturday Wall Street Journal even viewed the crash as a God-given opportunity with a big black-letter headline, “Playing the Market Plunge.” Wall Street and the public are so all-fired bullish that they are calling the crash a mistake, a computer error, or even the stock market losing its mind. Nobody, it appears, accepted the crash at face value. I find the cynical reaction to the crash rather ominous. I’d call it total disbelief in the market. Behind the disbelief are the unspoken words, “The economy is good, Corporate earnings are improving dramatically. Therefore, the stock market must be advancing. The crash was a terrible mistake. The stock market has lost its mind. Buy the mistake, it’s a great opportunity.” A radio station called me and asked what caused the crash. I answered, “Four words — More sellers than buyers.” The interviewer seemed stunned. He paused for about 10 seconds and asked, “You mean that’s it?” I answered, “Right, when sellers overwhelm buyers in a big way, guess what? The market goes down in a big