Okay that is done.  The Markets fell almost 8% in May, marking one of the worst performances in the month of May since 1940. However historically when May experiences a big drop, subsequent summer months have often posted double digit gains. Let’s see if this historical pattern holds true.

Happy Investing,

~George

Looks like the markets are seeking direction and cannot make up its mind. The remnants of the fear that is hanging over the market pertaining to European debt crises seems to be the culprit and still has a bit of a grip on investors’ minds. Although the VIX (fear index) has come down from its most recent high of 48.20 to the mid 30’s or so, it is still a bit high for my liking.

As Memorial Day weekend approaches lets see how the markets settle out and lets not forget what the real meaning of Memorial Day is.

Respectfully yours,

~George

Last week’s volatility was not for the faint of heart. Fear and uncertainty has gotten the best of the markets lately however considering how far the markets have come from since the March 09 bottom, this type of correction is not surprising. I am looking for signs of stability, especially internationally, before I continue deploying resources into the marketplace. The events that are happening globally are very fluid so one has to be prepared to act when given the cues.

A great week ahead to all.

~George

Well fear currently has its grip on the markets with the VIX (fear index) soaring to its highest levels in over a year. These are times where investors must be patient and prudent pertaining to not getting caught up in the fear that currently exists, yet protecting your asset allocations. In my experience, cooler heads most always prevails.

Good luck to all.

~George

This morning the European hangover and subsequent fear  continued with the Dow down at one point 184 points.  However by the close cooler heads prevailed and most of the broader indexes closed positive including the small cap indexes. Hopefully stability comes into the marketplace and investors can begin to focus on more of the fundamentals rather than the fear that has taken hold over the past couple of weeks.

Happy Investing.

~George

Okay, 2 weeks ago the Global markets were freaking out because the European debt markets were in a tailspin, so last Monday those markets were bailed out to the tune of $1 trillion by the ECB and others. The markets liked that, at least for a minute. Then this past week the new concern is whether or not Europe can grow its economies. Talk about an emotional market. First things first. The ECB had to stabilize its debt markets and instill confidence to the global investment community, which they did. Now the markets want everything to be perfect right away. Not going happen! Patience is an understatement, but must be exhibited as the markets unwind and adjust. I think for this week a stable market environment would be the healthiest outcome for the short term.

Good Luck to all.

~George

Well it took $1 trillion to do it but seemingly the fear and panic that the market experienced last week has subsided. The European Central Bank finally got it and took the necessary actions to shore up their crises and instill the confidence that the global markets were desperately looking for. So once again, a low interest rate environment coupled with global government support bodes well for the bulls.

Happy Investing.

~George

One of the metrics I use in determining the health of the speculative investor is  the year over year, month over month Gross dollar volume on the otc bulletin board and I gotta tell ya, speculation is back and back in a big way.  Just comparing the month of April, in Apr. 2009 the otc bulletin board had a gross dollar volume of aprx. $722 million compared to over $2.38 billion just this April, a whopping 230% increase. And this trend has been consistent for some time now.

Now I know the overall markets were jittery last week, but this metric cannot be overlooked. Hopefully there will be less panic this week and that cooler heads will prevail.

Good Luck to all and have a great week

~George

What happened today with the markets was so dramatic it broke a record, The Dow at one point was down 998.50 during the course of the trading day. Not the kind of record you want to see broken,  if you are long this market. But to my point on yesterdays blog, markets in part are truly driven by the two most powerful emotions, fear and greed. When fear hits the market it seemingly has a much more powerful effect pertaining to % moves to the downside, than greed does to the upside. Having said this, more times than not in an environment like we had today, small-caps and especially micro-caps are typically not caught up in the hysteria and panic that comes with days like today. Of course you always have to be selective when investing in the small-cap and micro-cap space, for indeed  enormous volatility can exist there as well.

Lets see how this shakes out over the next few weeks and hopefully the European Central Bank will instill confidence in their system by providing liquidity and buying up some of the Greece, Portugal and Spanish debt that seems to be the biggest fear factor going right now.

Good Luck to all and stay tuned.

~George

We all know by now markets can be driven by fear or by greed, and its easy to lose sight of the fundamentals when either emotion is in play. Lets not forget as long as we remain in a low interest rate environment and governments around the world continue to provide liquidity to the systems, this should continue to bode well for the markets. This especially rings true in the small cap space where small caps and micro-caps can benefit by low interest rate money and the speculative deployment of capital. Prudent investors see that small and micro-cap companies have much more upside potential than its larger cap brethren which have already realized enormous gains over the past year and change. Thats not to say that large caps wont continue to perform well, but select small caps over time, can significantly outperform its counterpart by leaps and bounds.

For now it may be a good idea to let the current fear subside a bit before putting more money to work, or for the more aggressive investor, this may be the perfect opportunity to step in a bit and take advantage of the current fear in the marketplace.

As always, best of luck to all and happy investing.

~George