[Posted 7:00 AM ET]
Iraq and the War on Terror
Ah yes, one of the problems with a column such as this is that
current events can overwhelm the editor’s work just a day or two
after going to ‘post.’ At least last time it was a most positive
development, the capture of Saddam, rather than a terrorist
attack.
I adopted a policy long ago of keeping true to the format in order
to maintain the integrity of StocksandNews. Of course you
probably also appreciate that as I’ve pounded home the theme of
‘wait 24 hours,’ it’s held me in good stead more often than not.
But nabbing Saddam affords me an opportunity to summarize my
feelings on both Iraq and the war on terror, all backed up by
comments I’ve made over the years. It’s a necessary step,
especially for new readers.
I’m a neocon. I’m of the Paul Wolfowitz school of preemption.
I also thought we should have taken out Saddam long before
9/11, and afterwards I agreed with our president when he said the
Iraqi regime presented an imminent threat.
I believed that Saddam was stockpiling weapons of mass
destruction, and I saw Iraq as but a first step…to be followed by
Iran and Syria, hopefully through popular uprisings rather than
military means, and then North Korea.
I believed that once the war in Iraq started it would be measured
in days, not weeks or months, and on this, after that initial awful
weekend, I proved to be more right than wrong.
At the same time, on 3/29 I blasted Bill O’Reilly for his gloating
on the then low casualty figures. On 4/19 I wrote “Now comes
the hard part, winning the peace.”
And then all hell broke loose, at least as I saw it, and having long
warned of the issues confronting the U.S. in the post-war
reconstruction effort, I then saw the Bush administration fall flat
on its back.
I was one of the few Republicans who questioned the May 1st
aircraft carrier, “Mission Accomplished,” episode, specifically
saying on 5/3 that it smacked of “triumphalism.” On 5/10 I
called Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld a liar for saying the war in
Afghanistan was over. I was right.
My concern since the shooting started was not just that the U.S.
wouldn’t stay the course following the fall of Baghdad, but that
many in the administration were being insensitive to the plight of
the families of the brave men and women serving and dying for
our country. In case you haven’t caught on, I believe all are
NOT created equal in this country. Those serving, and their
families, must always come first, especially these days.
For over 4 months, May to September, President Bush failed us.
He refused to update the country in prime time, thanks to Karl
Rove, and as I pointed out the poll #’s were slipping
precipitously at a time when it shouldn’t have been so. I also
wrote constantly of Rumsfeld and his plans to cut and run. I was
right.
But I never harped on our failure to find WMD, let alone Saddam
or bin Laden, because 1) the war remained justified, regardless,
and 2) you’d have to be an idiot, like most of the Democratic
presidential candidates, to doubt we’d ever catch the two sons of
Satan.
And then a few weeks ago I noted a change in our president. On
11/29 I wrote “He seems to be pulling away (from his cabinet),
asserting his own, largely correct beliefs…
“Strong and humble,” I continued “are not conflicting attributes.
It’s what’s needed to reinforce the coalition and to truly begin to
win over the hearts and minds, not just in Iraq, but across the
Middle East…”
President Bush is back on the right track and it has nothing to do
with the capture of Saddam, though the intelligence we gained
has undoubtedly saved many lives. But as I wrote on 11/22…
“Let’s face it…a single bullet, taking out (Pakistan’s President)
Musharraf, would change the entire global dynamic within
minutes.”
Thank God this didn’t prove to be prescient, yet, but as you saw,
within hours of Saddam’s capture Musharraf narrowly missed
assassination and friends, if this had been the case we wouldn’t
be talking about Iraq right now.
We have such short attention spans, us Americans, and it is not a
good trait to have over the coming decades. We can never let
down our guard. We can never afford to not know just who the
hell is crossing into this country and with what?
I left on the cutting room floor last week a tidbit from Joby
Warrick of the Washington Post, a tale of 38 missiles, all capable
of carrying a chemical warhead 8 miles, that have gone missing
in Moldova. I’ve already written enough over the years to scare
the heck out of you when it comes to other unsecured stockpiles.
We have to keep the heat on the evil ones. President Bush gets
it, but I always worry how political considerations enter into the
equation and that’s why I have criticized Karl Rove so fiercely.
I was going to hold off for a week or two in summing up some
thoughts on 2004, but suffice it to say in two areas, Iran and
North Korea, and to a somewhat lesser extent Syria, we cannot
afford to do nothing for another year as we have in 2003. It
means a stronger military, more money, more debt, more
leadership. It also may not be a very friendly environment for
investing, I imagine.
Finally, Andy Rooney had an interesting commentary on “60
Minutes” last Sunday. He wondered after Saddam’s capture why
it is that people follow a leader such as him. Maybe they’re just
“dumb or uninformed,” he mused. And throughout the week we
kept hearing what a coward Saddam was for hiding out in a
spider-hole and not going out in a hail of bullets.
Oh, so many are missing the point. Why do we allow leaders
like Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Saddam to manipulate us? I don’t
know, and Rooney’s own answer was idiotic and not worthy of
repeating here.
What I do know is this. Some day we’ll probably find Kim Jong
il in a predicament similar to Saddam and many will immediately
exclaim, ‘What a coward!’ But I’ll just think, this ‘coward’
killed hundreds of thousands of innocents and those on the
outside let it happen. So I ask you, who then is the real coward?
Unless you truly believe Saddam’s capture was but the end of the
beginning, you’ll have trouble with this.
—
Wall Street
I had dinner this week with a key employee of a Dow 30
company who reinforced what you all have been hearing on the
outsourcing front, that being an accelerating shift to India and
China. And, as a further example, IBM added meat to an
October release on the same topic when it confirmed it was
moving 4,700 to the two emerging giants.
As for China itself, one government official spoke of economic
growth in 2004 of 12.5%! Should this come to pass, and
assuming we get truthful numbers, it would certainly presage a
crash because if that isn’t a bubble, I don’t know what is.
China is well aware of its predicament, though. It has to grow in
the 8% range just to begin to find work for those being displaced
by the massive restructuring of its economy, but as was
evidenced in November, prices are beginning to rise here, now
3% year over year. The government is also talking about curbing
auto production because it has to cool soaring raw materials
prices. And Lester Brown wrote a piece for the Washington Post
discussing the coming grain shortage (which benefits U.S.
farmers, of course).
China’s growing clout worries many in the U.S., though often for
the wrong reasons. China is not to blame for all the problems in
the U.S. labor market and there is more than a bit of hypocrisy by
some of our corporate chieftains who complain about the
situation while at the same time profiting from it. As William
Pesek, Jr. of Bloomberg News added, in an era of globalization
the United States has to learn to come to grips with the fact that
we are no longer the only story in town.
This doesn’t necessarily mean we can’t maintain our high
standard of living, but consider this fact. According to the
International Monetary Fund, since 1980 the U.S. percentage of
total global output has essentially remained the same, about 21%.
[If you have trouble with this intuitively, just remember the huge
gains made in emerging markets over the same period.]
As for Wall Street and the here and now, the news on the
economic front couldn’t be better. New home construction is at
its highest level in 20 years, the consumer price index is at a 40-
year low, industrial production is up big, capacity utilization is
up (though not nearly enough to allow for significant pricing
power), the leading indicators are up, and even a Manpower
survey in employment reveals that 20% of companies plan on
hiring in the first quarter. So it’s no wonder blue chips had
another solid week, with both the Dow Jones and S&P 500
registering gains for a 4th week in a row, new 19-month highs, to
10278 and 1088, respectively, while Nasdaq continued to
struggle, basically unchanged at 1951.
In a different vein, when it comes to economic forecasting two
that I follow implicitly are PIMCO’s Bill Gross and ISI’s Ed
Hyman. I reviewed Gross’s thoughts for 2004 last time and this
week Hyman weighed in with a GDP forecast of 4% in a low
inflation environment. He also looks for corporate earnings to
tack on another 15-20%. In other words, a solid year ahead.
As for China and the impact its growth is having on energy and
other commodities, Hyman says while it’s obviously something
you take into account, the bottom line is all about China’s
finished goods, the prices of which are still held down by
dramatically lower labor costs, so labor continues to trump
commodities in this equation.
What are his risk factors? If the dollar continues to fall, U.S.
inflation will shoot up and if growth is much stronger than 4%
the Federal Reserve would be forced to act sooner than now
expected.
My opinion? I’m saving that for next week. Let’s just say I
don’t think we will see Dow 11000, yet here we sit just 7%
below that level. Not a lot of room for error, is there?
Street Bytes
–U.S. Treasury Yields
6-mo. 0.95% 2-yr. 1.77% 10-yr. 4.13% 30-yr. 4.96%
Bonds rallied in the face of the terrific economic data. While on
one hand it may not make too much sense, particularly as the
dollar continued to suffer from the flu, at least for this week the
tame inflation news carried the day as it reinforced the belief the
Fed won’t act until mid-year at the earliest in ’04.
Frankly, I still don’t buy it and the current account figures, after
all these years, are definitely worth paying attention to. The U.S.
needs to attract $45-$47 billion in foreign capital, monthly, to
make up the shortfall and in the last two reporting periods,
September and October, the inflows were only $4.2 billion and
$27.7 billion. By contrast, in the first 8 months of the year it
averaged $64 billion. Ergo, if this trend continues much longer a
true dollar crisis will be at hand, even with the troubles in
Europe and the European Union. Sometimes, people just want to
stay home.
–It was a big week for the New York Stock Exchange as
Goldman Sachs’ president John Thain was named the CEO of the
big board, with John Reed staying on for now in the chairman’s
slot. Thain has his roots in technology so the floor specialists,
already under fire, should have been spitting up their eggnog
with word of his appointment. Earlier, the SEC had approved
the NYSE’s restructuring plan.
Now as for Thain’s connection to Goldman and CEO Henry
Paulson, who helped engineer the ouster of Dick Grasso, of
course there are massive conflicts of interest in having
Goldman’s own wonder boy running the exchange. And Thain’s
$4 million salary certainly isn’t on par with a true regulator’s
pay. But it’s Christmas, after all, and we’ll give Mr. Thain the
benefit of the doubt for now.
What I won’t do is slough off John Reed’s refusal to divulge
details of the investigation into Grasso’s own pay package. Reed
had initially talked of disclosing the information and now he’s
backed off. Bad move, sir.
Lastly, we have the story of Calpers and the pension fund’s
suit against the NYSE alleging massive “fraud” in its trading
practices. This could be entertaining next year.
–As expected, Alliance Capital Management was fined $250
million for market-timing improprieties, the largest such penalty
ever levied against a fund company, while New York Attorney
General Eliot Spitzer jacked company officials up against the
wall and grabbed an estimated $350 million in mandated fee
reductions over the next 5 years. Shareholders will benefit some,
but as noted last week this is one area where I agree with the
SEC. Spitzer has over-exceeded his bounds as prosecutor. Let
the free market decide the fee issue.
–Janus Funds said it would return $31 million to shareholders in
self-imposed restitution for its own misdeeds. That’s about
$1.95 per client. May I recommend a 32-ounce jug of Boone’s
Farm, circa 1999.
–James Connelly, Jr., former executive of Fred Alger
Management, was sentenced to 1-3 years for interfering in the
investigation of improper fund trading at his shop. It’s another
case of local boy does bad, Mr. Connelly hailing from this area.
–NAFTA is 10-years-old. My, just where does the time fly?
There is much to celebrate, though, especially for U.S.
consumers, but Mexico has turned victory into defeat at an
alarming pace as its failure to enact economic reforms, especially
on the energy and utility fronts, is causing a serious loss of
business to China. 25% of the maquiladoros (assembly shops)
have closed since 2000, which means that more and more folks
will cross our border.
One stat I read of in Business Week is quite telling. Over the
past decade Mexico has graduated 73,000 engineers, compared
to 314,000 in India and 363,000 in China over the same period.
–China Life came to market in the biggest IPO of the year, about
$3.4 billion. It’s a terrific story with only 1.5% of the people
having insurance there, but I’ll be damned if I can get a handle
on the appropriate valuation just yet. And with the shares
closing the week at $23.50, up from an $18.60 offering price, I’m
not prepared to pay the current figure, but do hope to pick it off
at a lower level.
–Oracle’s latest earnings report, while decent, represented
today’s reality for the multi-nationals as the revenue increase of
8% was largely due to the falling dollar, though there were other
variables that were encouraging. Nonetheless, I’ll focus on the
currency impact because I need an excuse for a holiday inspired
“whoopty-damn-do.”
–My portfolio: I was wheeling and dealing this week, as my
holdings also had by far their best showing of the year. Between
appreciation and additional investments I’m suddenly around
43% equities, though this is as high as I’m prepared to go these
days.
I know you understand why I don’t mention specific investment
plays (except in the case of some of my ‘country’ picks) because
it can only hurt me, but at least you get a sense of what I’m
doing.
Currently I’m 30% energy, 4% Japan (I added a bit here), 6%
carbon fiber (this soared), 2% big pharm comeback story (we
hope), 1% Internet telephony (new, and just for the hell of it).
And then to show you that I’m a man of my convictions, and
since I stupidly have been bringing up the topic for some time
now, on Friday I bought a miniscule position in eBay ‘puts,’ an
exception to my rule and frankly one I wish I had never brought
up. But I said I was waiting until December and the best news
environment possible so here we go. Already I’m down because
the stock broke through a key level I thought it would back off of
and now I reserve the right to exit stage left come Monday or
Tuesday if the trigger finger gets itchy. One thing you learn in
this business is you never stop making mistakes. But if you have
40% winners, 30% losers, and 30% breakeven, you can still be a
happy camper. [50% winners and you can afford premium lager.]
International Affairs
Libya: Once again, an event has brushed up against your editor’s
deadline. It’s only been a few hours since I learned of the
tremendously positive development that Col. Muammar Qaddafi
has agreed to dismantle his arsenal of chemical and biological
weapons, along with a nuclear program that may have been far
more advanced than initially thought. Simply a huge victory for
both President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair and,
suffice it so say, another reason why we must continue to keep
the heat on in this war on terror. But you’ll forgive me if I beg
off from making further comments until I have a chance to
devour more material.
China / Taiwan: President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan ratcheted
up the rhetoric another notch, warning China not to test its
missiles around next March’s presidential election. Chen said
Taiwan would view this as an “attack” and that more threats by
the mainland would only promote the cause for independence as
it would “invite a backlash” by the people and “(force them) to
see China as a hostile country rather than the motherland.”
Writing in the 12/22 edition of the Weekly Standard, Robert
Kagan and William Kristol said that President Bush’s recent
kowtow to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was “dangerous,” but
we can get through this rough stretch leading up to the March
vote, in particular, as long as Bush acknowledges the referendum
Chen seeks to hold on withdrawal of China’s missiles isn’t being
carried out to promote independence and that the U.S. will
continue to defend Taiwan if China gets overly aggressive.
Israel: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced that if the
Palestinian government didn’t take concrete steps within months
to implement their part of the ‘road map,’ Sharon would begin
taking unilateral steps to separate Israel from the Palestinians by
completing the security wall and setting boundaries based on
Israel’s needs, which would lead to the Palestinians getting less
territory than they otherwise would through negotiations. The
Bush administration warned Sharon against abandoning the
original plan. In other words, a rapidly expanding story is at
hand.
Russia: In an op-ed piece for the Washington Post, Fred Hiatt
wrote of the war in Chechnya. Best estimates are that a full one-
quarter of the population has died since the war began here and
as Hiatt notes the “whole nation is suffering from post-traumatic
stress syndrome.”
No one denies Russia the right to fight terrorism and Chechnya is
loaded with Islamic extremists, but in its failure to attempt a
negotiated settlement, the regime of President Vladimir Putin is
responsible for the slaughter of innocents. But don’t expect the
Bush administration to hold Putin’s feet to the fire. Wouldn’t
want to offend him now, would we?
Meanwhile, Putin formally announced he was running for a 3rd
term. “What?” you say. “3rd? I thought it was a 2nd?” Well,
you all realize he’ll win his 2nd and immediately change the
constitution so he can run for a 3rd, and by 2008 opposition will
be so snuffed out he’ll receive a Husseinesque 99% of the vote.
Afghanistan: I’m still waiting for my invite to the loya jirga,
the big assembly that is supposed to settle on a constitution and
firmly establish the first national elections in June, though this
latter issue will undoubtedly be delayed due to the fact violence
is still the order of the day in parts of the country, making
elections unsafe and unfeasible. NATO must send in more
troops and it was a huge blow when U.N. aid workers suspended
operations because of the safety issue.
And then there was the case of the female delegate to the
assembly who lashed out on the lack of women’s rights in the
proposed constitution, at which point she was immediately
placed under protection because some of the Mujahideen in
attendance threatened to kill her. Other than this, everything
is hunky-dory, right Secretary Rumsfeld?
India / Pakistan: Once again, President Musharraf has taken a
bold step in attempting to start up serious negotiations over the
fate of Kashmir. For 50 years Pakistan has demanded that the
people in the Indian-controlled portion (predominantly Muslim)
be granted a plebiscite for the purposes of choosing who they
wish to be governed by. Now Musharraf says that may not be
necessary. A gutty move for a man who has assassins strewing
bombs in his path.
Turkey: I wrote of the election in Turkish Cyprus last week and
the parliamentary vote ended up in a 25-25 deadlock. At first
this was deemed to be a most positive development for the
moderates who favor reunification with the far more prosperous
Greek half of the island, but then the Turkish Cypriot President
Denktas, a doddering old fool, said he may call for a new vote
rather than proceed with U.N.-mandated reunification talks. This
all matters because the European Union will scuttle any bid by
Turkey to join the club unless the Cyprus issue is settled
satisfactorily. With Greek Cyprus joining the E.U. next spring,
Turkey would be considered an occupying force on E.U.
territory.
But then you have the situation involving politics and soccer,
with European soccer officials moving matches involving
Turkish clubs from Turkey to Germany due to the bombings in
Istanbul. Talk about a slap in the face, and as the New York
Times reports this has hurt the peoples’ psyche more than the
blasts themselves.
European Union: The quest for a new constitution collapsed last
weekend and talks may not resume for years. As I’ve noted in
the past the big issue was voting rights, with Spain and Poland
matched against France and Germany, with the latter two
unwilling to cede power to the upstarts. Britain’s Tony Blair
attempted to be peacemaker but this only helped expose the
further rift between those supporting the war in Iraq (Britain,
Spain, Poland, Italy, Denmark, Netherlands and Portugal) over
those opposed, namely France and Germany. And this was also
the same lineup that was miffed France and Germany were able
to thumb their nose at the E.U. budget deficit restrictions. As I
wrote two weeks ago, “…25 countries and 25 commissioners.
Oh yeah, that will work.”
Central America: The Bush administration achieved a big victory
on the trade front in reaching agreement with Nicaragua, El
Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras on a free trade zone, though
it would appear it faces a stiff fight in Congress. One of the
plusses would be the beginning of the dismantlement of the sugar
lobby in America that receives outrageous subsidies. The
American consumer has paid far more for sugar than it should
have in a free market, all because politicians of all stripes sought
to protect a few fat cats, thereby hurting our relations worldwide
because we have no credibility when we call on others to reduce
their own subsidies. It’s time to put a stop to it.
Japan: The government confirmed it seeks to develop a missile
shield jointly with the U.S. Coupled with a similar move on the
part of Australia, you can see why long ago I called for a new
alliance:
Britain, Australia, India, Japan and the U.S.
Yup, it’s all coming into place, even if you are the only ones who
know this. [Hell, the leaders of these countries don’t even see it
yet.]
Zimbabwe: President Robert Mugabe’s government is seizing the
equipment of white farmers who were already kicked off their
land. Many of them need to be able to sell it just to put food on
the table. And of course Mugabe’s thugocracy never
compensated the farmers for the land that was confiscated as
initially promised. So with actions like these, Mugabe remains
in the running for an unprecedented 3rd “Dirtball of the Year”
honor.
Kenya: Daniel arap Moi ruled here in a typically African,
corrupt fashion for 24 years. So it should come as no surprise
that a new investigation by Kroll Associates has found that
former officials siphoned off anywhere from $1- $4 billion of
state funds and Kroll sees little chance of recovering any of it.
At least the new leadership sanctioned the inquiry, and that’s
encouraging, but imagine what even $1 billion could have done
in a country like this…roads, schools, clean water…
Separately, the media here supposedly has a videotape showing
3 members of parliament soliciting prostitutes, not that
Washington hasn’t had its share of this behavior itself.
But I’ve come to the conclusion that when it comes to the
majority of governments on the continent, wildebeest could do a
better job.
Random Musings
–The sudden departure of weapons chief David Kay is rather
disturbing, as is the failure of Paul Bremer to come clean earlier
on the recent attempt on his life.
–President Bush’s approval rating rose sharply following
Saddam’s capture, from 52 to 58 percent in both the NBC / Wall
Street Journal and New York Times / CBS surveys, and up to
63 percent in the USA Today / CNN / Gallup poll. Bush also
destroys Howard Dean in a match-up, but then the election isn’t
being held today, is it?
As for Senator Lieberman, he scored big in some circles with his
line that if Dean were president, Saddam would still be in power,
yet the former Veep candidate continues to lag badly even
though this is one guy who ‘gets it.’
–Sam Tanenhaus, in a New York Times op-ed on the polarized
electorate in 2004.
“But if history is any guide, Mr. Bush’s power to polarize may
help him. Election results over the past four decades show that
incumbents who have aroused intense partisan passions easily
clinched a second term. Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton divided
voters as much as Mr. Reagan did. Less divisive presidents, like
Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, were sent packing.”
–I told you Democratic Senator John Breaux would quit
Washington and this week he announced he will not seek re-
election. This is a big loss. We desperately need more like him;
a good man, solid leader, compromiser, helped push through the
tax cut (!), supported drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge (!!) …basically, my hero (party labels aside). Breaux
will make a terrific CEO, if he chooses that path, but I hope he’s
selected to be an ambassador for one of our key relationships,
like Russia or China.
–Maria Shriver saved husband Arnold two weeks ago during the
budget crisis, or so reports have it, and then this week the
governor enacted emergency measures designed to restore funds
to local governments, even as a 3rd ratings agency lowered
California’s debt to one level above junk.
–Connecticut Republican Governor John Rowland, one-time
pretty boy, should step down over the issue of receiving free
work on his cottage in exchange for government contracts. Not
only did he lie, his wife was incredibly stupid to lash out at the
press. Give ‘em cab fare, nothing more.
–SARS reemerged as a topic this week in what is hoped will be
an isolated case in Taiwan, though the odds of it not becoming a
bigger issue, and market risk, seems small. Elsewhere on the
disease front, South Korea is dealing with a new bird flu that
could be fatal to humans and as a result over 137,000 chickens
and ducks have been slaughtered.
Meanwhile, Britain has another scare on its hands concerning
vCJD, mad cow disease, as it has come to light that a blood
transfusion may have been the way mad cow was transmitted to a
recent victim. The problem is the transfusion took place in 1996
so with others potentially catching it through the same process,
you’re talking thousands who may have become infected, yet
don’t know it.
–U.S. News & World Report had a worrisome story on the
secrets that the Bush administration is hiding, all in the name of
national security. It’s an issue that conservative William Safire
has also written of and it certainly bears watching. Then again,
how can we watch what we can’t see? Doh!
–I don’t understand those who desire to see Saddam executed for
his crimes, yet are against capital punishment in any other
instance. It’s like the folks in the Washington area who want
Muhammad and Malvo to fry, but wouldn’t allow a mother in
Newark to get true closure when her son is gunned down for his
bomber jacket. Of course you know where I stand. I’m looking
for every legitimate opportunity to decrease the surplus
population.
–And then there is former Illinois Governor George Ryan, who
played God with everyone on the state’s death row, releasing
them, but now he’s been indicted (as long expected) for
racketeering and conspiracy. True, Illinois had some serious
problems with its judicial system, but most of those let off were
guilty and the victims’ families suffered all over again.
–Unfortunately, my home state of New Jersey has an angel of
death, this male nurse who may have killed up to 40 by his own
admission. When was the last time a female nurse did this kind
of thing? That’s why we prefer women here at StocksandNews.
–The American Geophysical Union, long skeptics on the global
warming front, have now concluded greenhouse emissions are a
cause of the changes taking place on our planet.
–Sorry, my conservative brethren, but I’m more of an
environmentalist than ever and for the life of me I don’t see why
we need to allow hundreds of snowmobiles in Yellowstone Park.
Or as I like to call them, giant leaf blowers on skis. Frankly, I
hope some cougars jump the riders. Now that would make for a
great TV movie.
–You realize that a James Bond-type figure will one day save the
world as we know it, don’t you?
—
God bless the men and women of the armed forces. We love
you, guys.
God bless America.
—
Gold closed at $409
Oil, $33.02
Returns for the week 12/15-12/19
Dow Jones +2.4% [10278]
S&P 500 +1.3% [1088]
S&P MidCap +0.4%
Russell 2000 -0.1%
Nasdaq +0.1% [1951]
Returns for the period 1/1/03-12/19/03
Dow Jones +23.2%
S&P 500 +23.7%
S&P MidCap +32.2%
Russell 2000 +42.8%
Nasdaq +46.1%
Bulls 57.6
Bears 21.2 [Source: Chartcraft]
Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah, my friends.
I’ll be back same time, same address, next week with the official
StocksandNews “Man of the Year” and eagerly awaited “Dirtball
of the Year” awards.
Travel safe.
Brian Trumbore
