THOUGHT FOR MONDAY 28TH JANUARY 2008
From top share author MALCOLM STACEY
Hello Crazy Cats,
Well, whatever kind of week it is, it shouldn't be the same hectic up-and-downer exhibited by the five trading days before. That was a real shocker - and yet over the week not that many Footsie points were lost. And the Dow actually gained. Strange old world.
But that's the wonder of Crazyland, gang. It can be very crazy indeed.
Cynically speaking, traders do rather well out of topsy turvy weeks - and they probably try and engineer them. If a lot of selling goes on, the computers click in and even more sales are made. And then the process accelerates.
Until that is, somebody says: 'Hey up, the selling has been over done, everybody. Let's start buying loads of shares again.' And then another buying frenzy gets under way.
I suppose it's all very predictable, really. But the journalists have a field day, with lots of lovely alarmist copy to dish out. More papers are sold and more people listen and watch the broadcast news.
But none of that answers the question of what might happen this week. Probably things will settle down, as the big traders in the US take a breather.
I expect that, on the panicky days, the running around is so severe in the Stock Exchanges around the world, that it leaves quite a few traders almost out for the count for the next few days to come.
Meanwhile, the recession in the US still has not happened. And every week it can be staved off makes the chance of a recovery a little bit stronger. I still think it will be a soft landing without much pain in the US and over here. But I, like everybody else, am no clairvoyant. Though I do foresee that the Punter's Return will open soon. Rock on!
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