{"id":2822,"date":"2010-03-19T07:38:05","date_gmt":"2010-03-19T12:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=2822"},"modified":"2010-03-19T07:38:05","modified_gmt":"2010-03-19T12:38:05","slug":"before-the-open-mar-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=2822","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Mar 19)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday.<\/span>
\nAll but one Asian\/Pacific market closed up, but gains were small. All but one European market are up – gains are small there too. Futures here in the States are flat.<\/span>
\nMy totally random thoughts…<\/span>
\nThe market is overbought, but that doesn’t seem to matter. Maybe it’s because most of the volume these days is computer algorithms running on autopilot, so once a move starts, it lasts much longer than normal because all the computers are piling on top of each other.<\/span>
\nThe market will once again close at a level that expires most put options worthless, so the bears have lost again. The market may give some back after OE day (today), but that’s too easy. Others are probably thinking the same thing, so a sell-off may begin today or be delayed until next Tues or Wed.<\/span>
\nThe intraday movement is stuff I don’t recognize. I categorize all days, and most used to fit the description of something I’ve seen many times before (ergo, in the middle of the day, I could say “oh, it’s a XYZ day”). Not lately. Most days I sit back and admit I don’t know what “kind of day this is.”<\/span>
\nIf the market really is in recovery mode – albeit at a very slow pace – why doesn’t the Fed raise rates? Do they know something we don’t know?<\/span>
\nRegarding the employment situation, I’ve heard from several sources we need ~ 250-300K new jobs every month for several years to recovery what was lost. I’m afraid that will take years (unlike other recoveries which took much shorter). Heck we need over 100K jobs every month just to breakeven when you consider the new people entering the work force. And since we don’t even get this, we’re still falling behind. A full recovery will not be made for many years. WWII got us out of the Great Depression. I hope we don’t need another world war to get us out of the current situation.<\/span>
\nThere’s another glut of foreclosures in the pipeline. <\/span>
\nThe gap between rich and poor is growing. The gap between Wall St. and Main St. is growing. A country without a middle class has no chance of being a super power. When will the second American Revolution begin?<\/span>
\nI don’t understand gold. If the world collapses, gold does me no good. I can’t eat it or drink it or wear it. And since 99.9% of the population can’t identify gold next to a fake, it won’t be used as a currency. I’d rather own a piece of land where I could plant food. But this is a story for another day.<\/span>
\nThe weather in Colorado is nutso. It’s been nice all week, and this morning I woke up to a blanket of snow.<\/span>
\nThat’s it for now. The trend is up, but I’m being cautious. <\/span>
\nheadlines at Yahoo Finance<\/a><\/span>
\ntoday’s upgrades\/downgrades<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Earnings Reports<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Economic Numbers<\/a><\/span>
\n