Hot Potato

The reality is that everything in the market, every share, every bond, every instrument of any type, is owned by somebody at all times. The question is, do you want to be a somebody. Or, in the vernacular, “Do you feel lucky, punk?” The professionals have been busy loading up retail investors (and the more naive professionals, of course) for months now, with slowly rising prices and a continuous stream of propaganda the main tools to induce them to part with their cash, in exchange for financial assets the pros no longer care to own. The Fed has aided and abetted this transfer with its own stream of hopeful – but idiotic – jawboning.

Unfortunately, there is little truth behind the propaganda. It is increasingly clear that the first quarter was not a weather-related outlier. Today’s wholesale trade release will spark yet another round of downward revisions to second-quarter growth estimates. A large Portuguese bank failed overnight, causing the stock market to open sharply lower, but eager dip buyers have recovered much of the losses. This is a time to wonder if there is an adequate supply of greater fools to take off your hands the assets you have purchased.

Oh, and CYNK has now surpassed $5 billion in market cap.