Unless you work at Chrysler or are one of the 9.4% of people currently on the sideline, the week should have been solid. Hell, if you are unemployed, the week was probably spectacular.
The market was up 2% and Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs had their busiest month in over a decade helping ailing companies issue boatloads of stock. Nothing better than being busy these days. The amount of soul searching and “what am I doing with my life?” questions have started to diminish rapidly in tandem with this rally. Don’t be surprised if you start seeing some swagger back in the young I-bankers step. Please don’t hold it against them if they trip at first though, you can’t expect them to get it right back after a year long hiatus.
We also have more faith in the government now than ever. It turns out, our pal Treasury Secretary Timmy G actually has more than his reputation on the line with his laundry list of alphabet soup programs. When he moved to Washington, he left behind a lovely home in Westchester which he has been unable to unload even below the $1.6m he paid for it in 2004. He’s so dedicated to his job in D.C. that he is now renting the abode for $7,500 a month, which apparently doesn’t cover his mortgage payments. (Hopefully he is investing the taxpayers money better than his own.)
We also hope the government stimulus continues to work its way thru and this does turn out to a “V” recovery. Or at least if it is a “W” recovery, we ask the market to have enough decency to wait to slide down until after Labor day - no reason to dampen a perfectly good Hamptons summer. We went to Pink last weekend and the 2009 crop of Eastern European girls looked the same as last year. At least one market has held up.
Brought to you by Anonymous Finance Guy (and occasional DABA Girl Sympathizer)
