Comments on: The markets didn’t just vote on the Euro summit

By: FifthDecade

FifthDecade — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:08:54 +0000

Clearly Felix your pessimism was misplaced since the markets didn’t react.

People are finally realising that change in the EU takes time, and while journalists have daily deadlines, the EU politicians and officials do not. Perhaps it would be a good idea for journalists to refrain from hyperbole and hyping up each successive meeting as a ‘last chance to save the Euro/EU/World Economy/mankind’ so we might then begin to see what’s really going on?

By: scythe

scythe — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 21:42:46 +0000

@ mfw13 – timely words, completely agree with their sentiment

(quote) “to ascribe any type of “judgment” to the actions of the markets is, in my opinion, a big mistake.”

(quote) “these days, much of the action in the markets is completely disconnected from the long-term problems of the real world.”

By: ErnieD

ErnieD — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 19:53:44 +0000

The “news” didn’t seem to impact sovereign debt very much. Since the meeting was to try to solve the sovereign debt problem, not an equity market problem, one would think that a real solution would impact the debt markets in a signficiant way.

By: youniquelikeme

youniquelikeme — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 19:35:27 +0000

mfw13, who could disagree with you? Not my Grandfather, who lost everything in the markets of yesteryear. His losses took days!

Markets can’t really disconnect from long term problems, when that’s where the bulk of “saving” are, but you can be darn sure there are many behind the scenes trying to prop them up. Who cares about long term when it can all change in a millisecond? Whoo hoo win and lose even faster. Who needs a casino! (besides it’s mostly other people’s money traders get their kicks from

If you glimpse behind the curtain there will be several “wizards” manipulating the voice of reason and calm. Fear is the driver of markets and people really do want a pie in the sky solution, even if it is a summit that will likely do nothing to prevent a European melt down.

When every mention on the internet, media sources or a mere “fat fingered error” can make an impact on the market, it is a volatile place to be connected to at any time. Many people still want to make those bets, but you can be darn sure those with money have as much hedged in less volatile places than the market.

Those of us without much money would be wise to step away from the curtain and prepare for reality to step in and take its course.

“It’s going to be really tricky to not lose a lot of investor confidence” is a pretty interesting way to precede a discussion about a devastating avalanche.

By: mfw13

mfw13 — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 02:54:38 +0000

I think you have to remember that these days, a significant portion of all trading activity is very short term, i.e. with a time horizon too short for any decision made at the EU summit to actually have an impact. Not just the millisecond computer-driven trading that we’ve all heard about, but also trades that last minutes, hours, and days, rather than months or years.

So to ascribe any type of “judgment” to the actions of the markets is, in my opinion, a big mistake.

These days, much of the action in the markets is completely disconnected from the long-term problems of the real world.