man profits more by the sight of an idiot than by the orations of the learned.
Arabian Proverb
We have one expert after another predicting that it is time for the markets to crash; mind you these same chaps sang this same terrible song of Gloom in 2015, 2016 and now they are singing it with the same passion in 2017. There is one noteworthy factor, though; a few former Bulls have joined the pack. Does this now mean that the markets are going to crash? Apparently not, well, at least if you look at the indices, as of Jan the market continues to trend higher. Furthermore, what is a crash or for that matter a pullback or a correction? Does it not all boil down to a perception? One individual could view it as a crash, while the other views it as a mild correction and an opportunity to purchase more shares. It would all depend on when you jumped into this market. If you embraced this bull market in 2016, then a pullback in the 10%-15% ranges would feel like a crash. On the other hand, if you embraced this beast (Stock Market Bull)anywhere from 2009-2011, it would seem like a mild orderly correction. Most experts almost gleefully try to force their twisted perceptions on everyone. Just because theexperts decide to label it as a crash does not mean you should follow their lead; experts are known for getting it wrong all the time. In fact, experiments have shown that monkeys throwing darts at a random list of stocks fare much better than Wall Street experts. Hence, take their so-called sage advice with a barrel of salt.
If these experts were so astute, then why have most of them missed one of the biggest bull markets of all time. Moreover, now they want to convince you that it is time to short it after failing to embrace it. How can one trust these penguins? If they failed to identify the bull market in the first place, how is it they are suddenly able to predict the top.
Several weeks ago we penned an article (excerpt provided below) where we stated that caution was warranted as the markets should let out some steam, but as the trend was still up, we did not feel it was time to short the markets. All the experts that stated it was time to bail out and short the market must be smarting from their losses. The market loves to punish arrogant self-proclaimed know it all gurus. Mass psychology is very clear when it comes to the markets; the masses need to embrace the markets before one can claim a top is close at hand. The masses so far have refused to embrace this market for a prolonged period.
This post was published at GoldSeek on Friday, 17 February 2017.
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