Dennis Gartman: “We Suffered Our Worst Days Of The Year These Past Two Days”

From Dennis Gartman’s latest letter to clients, presented without comment.
We want very badly to believe that the great bull market that has been extant for as long as it has been… now having finished eight powerful years to the upside here in the US… continues in unabated fashion for the simple truth of the matter is that everyone, everywhere lives better in bull markets. The food tastes better; the music is clearer with sweeter melodies; the women are lovelier and the men are actually handsome. Cinderella lives in bull markets. In bear markets, suddenly the make-up runs; the dresses turn shabby; the bands play off-key and without rhythm and the men and women turn one upon the other. Life turns harshly for the worse. Thus we want truly to believe that the bull market continues but we are beginning to have real doubts. Certainly a correction of some very real magnitude is upon us.
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We suffered our worst days of the year these past two days in our retirement fund here at TGL, losing nearly 3% this week and in the process we cut back our positions dramatically and in violent, swift fashion. We cut back our steel position entirely; we cut back our positions in closed end bond funds entirely; we cut back our position in grains entirely, leaving us only with a position in the US’ largest ball bearing manufacturer (which we had threatened to buy on a correction and which we did yesterday) and with our positions in gold predicated in EURs and Yen.
We know only this: that when things go awry it is best to cut positions as swiftly as one might. As Jesse Livermore was told by a more senior mentor about a position that he… Livermore… had had in place that was causing him to lose sleep, cut back to a ‘sleeping’ position. We have done that, and even now we find it difficult to doze off for the pain of losing 3% in one week is very real and all too evident.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on May 5, 2017.