DOW watching

[1Admin]

I've found myself the last few years watching the Dow more. Probably more for market timing but never the less.

"Caught" myself doing it just a few minutes ago thinking "man I'm late the market opened a little while ago." LOL

I've heard a lot of people over the years seem to use the Dow as some sort of SHTF barometer.

While it is an economic indicator, it is simply one of many. The problem is that it's the most visible to EVERYONE.

Some things they have hidden, like a few years ago when they stopped publishing the M3. Conspiracy stuff aside, I can't see any rational reason to conceal that other than to cover up bad things.

It's weird down here, you'll meet one person who's business is falling apart at the seems, another who is kicking butt and taking names.

[Spock]

even is lousy economies money is to be made. While banks are loosing money on forclosures people are cleaning them and make sure they don't become crack house flops. When people don't make their car payment, the repo guy does great business. Lawyers on every front are making a killing.

[1Admin]

Well it's back over 10,000 Might have been a good buying opportunity there around 9,600 or so.

Seems like the last couple of years it's went in this pattern of hovering around the same 2,000 point range but with drastic swings every month-two month period.

[Bearman202]

I tend to watch the Dow at an early warning device also, but lately I'm starting to wonder if that's such a good idea. It's pretty obvious that it's being artificially propped up. The fundamentals don't support what we're seeing. A better barometer might be the number of plywood sheets covering the front of small businesses in your area. While the big guys do provide a lot of jobs in this economy, they are a mere fraction of the real economy. The vast majority of the population work for the small businesses in this country. After the first of the year, when the new taxes kick in, we're in for some real problems. That's not counting the National Health Care thing, either. Many small business owners are squeaking by now, and when they learn they're going to have to provide insurance for all their employees, they're going out. Having run a small business for five years, I know only too well how it is. Between taxes, the phone company, (for ads in the yellow pages that brought in business) and insurance, I felt like I was working for them, not for me. I finally shut it down.

[Lowdown3]

Good post Bearman, great observations.