Wisdom of the Ages?

Wisdom of the Ages?

This has been a week where the term “valuation” has suddenly

become hot again, as in overvaluation. Investment giants Abby

Cohen, Julian Robertson, and Mark Mobius all chose this week to

highlight the overextended nature of some of the technology

issues. In the case of Robertson, the hedge fund king has taken

himself out of the game. It”s as if he had suddenly lost his stuff,

taking an 8-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth, only to see two

runs score quickly and then loaded the bases up again. It was

time for the flamethrower out of the pen to see if he could

preserve the win, and Robertson”s reputation.

I am constantly drawn back to the parallels to the 1929 market

environment. The economy was cooking back then, just as it is

today. But the market had advanced so far that a few had begun

to wonder just how long the good times could last. Here are just

a few notes of caution as well as merriment.before the crash.

And note some of the terminology that was used then, just as it is

today.

–Arthur Lehman of Lehman Brothers expected troubles ahead.

“When I say that the outlook for business is doubtful, I mean it

literally, and not euphemistically, as predicting bad business.

Production has been at a high rate during the past year and it is

difficult to see where in many lines an expansion could take

place.”

–After a plunge in late December 1928, an unsigned New York

Times article was bullish. The market was rallying back and the

theme was, “Don”t sell America short.”

“The underlying strength of the stock market, which brought

sharp gains yesterday in many individual issues, has been about as

much a surprise to Wall Street as was the recent decline. The

professional element of the Street has been certain that a

”secondary reaction” of large proportions would follow in the

wake of the sharp decline, and on this theory a sizable short

interest has been built up in the market. Most of these short sales

now show a loss, and short covering furnished a considerable part

of yesterday”s business. Many more brokerage houses are

hopping nimbly over to the bull side of the market, and once

again yesterday many tips were in circulation. No one predicted,

however, that the market would start out once more in a burst of

wild excitement, but professional opinion is that the mid-

December crash was a ”reaction in a bull market” rather than ”the

end of speculative frenzy.”” [Of course, the frenzy in 1929 only

got worse.]

–Time magazine publisher Henry Luce and his staff were

preparing to bring out a new magazine, Fortune, which would be

dedicated to the proposition and the “generally accepted

commonplace that America”s great achievement has been

Business.”

–In early1929, Paul Warburg, the “ancient” leader of Kuhn,

Loeb, spoke of the times. He had lived through the 1907 panic,

and now he saw the same signals. Prices were too high. The

market rise was “quite unrelated to respective increases in plant,

property, or earning power.” The “colossal volume of loans” had

reached “a saturation point.” Unless “the orgy of unrestrained

speculation” was ended, a crash would surely follow, and then

would come “a general depression involving the entire country.”

As historian Robert Sobel notes, Warburg was accused of

“sandbagging American prosperity.”

–And then there was Bernard Baruch. He had been

recommending stock purchases while secretly selling his holdings.

“The bears have no mansions on Fifth Avenue,” he told one

reporter. Later on, he would write: “When beggars and shoeshine

boys, barbers and beauticians can tell you how to get rich it is

time to remind yourself that there is no more dangerous illusion

than the belief that one can get something for nothing.”

By the summer of 1929, Sobel writes, “There was no sign of

weakness on Wall Street. When the Federal Reserve raised the

rediscount rate to 6 per cent in August, stocks only rose higher,

disregarding all attempts to curb the boom. The boardrooms of

large brokerages were jammed with speculators and people who

did not own stocks, but were curious about the excitement. The

atmosphere was lighthearted and carefree. A year earlier

individuals who had made fortunes on Wall Street were

applauded; now they were commonplace. Speculators, both large

and small, were beginning to accept continued advances as an

expected occurrence. Not even a rise in margin requirements

made by some brokers could dampen the enthusiasm.”

The Saturday Evening Post printed a poem to illustrate this

feeling:

Oh, hush thee, my babe, granny”s bought some more shares

Daddy”s gone out to play with the bulls and the bears,

Mother”s buying on tips, and she simply can”t lose,

And baby shall have some expensive new shoes!

From a September 1, 1929 New York Times article:

“Traders who would formerly have taken the precaution of

reducing their commitments just in case a reaction should set in,

now feel confident that they can ride out any storm which may

develop. But more particularly, the repeated demonstrations

which the market has given of its ability to ”come back” with

renewed strength after a sharp reaction has engendered a spirit of

indifference to all the old time warnings. As to whether this

attitude may not sometime itself become a danger-signal, Wall

Street is not agreed.”

The more things change, the more they stay the same.at least in

writing.

Source: “The Great Bull Market,” Robert Sobel

Brian Trumbore

[Note: The preceding was abbreviated due to travel.]