Wed March 28, 2012
As I have noted, there is not a lot more to say about the markets, we are at the opposite extreme of last August and October lows when social mood was negative. Now investing optimism abounds.
In today's WSJ, Donald Trump is jumping back into risk. He is buying out parnters in a Chicago condo, at least that is what I think I read. But who knows what The Donald is up to? I don't know anything about the Chicago condo market (2400 are for sale) or whether The Donald has ever had any real net worth. Perhaps he has been smart enough to simply borrow so much that his lenders are always more worried about default than The Donald is. But risk taking at this point abounds.
Elsewhere Goldman is handing back its investments in Seattle, The WAMU meltdown sealed their fate in that market.
Another sign of a market top or bottom is the appearance of financial figures in non financial publications. The adulation of someone typidcally marks a top. Negative headlines such as the death of mining typically mark a bottom. Readers are aware that I speculate the Facebook IPO may well mark the top of ths stock market run. Facebook's market cap rivals Google but it has one tenth the revenue.
And so the current cover of Fast Company Magazine at left caught my attention. Here we have the Facebook Wonderboy sporting the Simon Cowell moniker of Knighthood-American Idol.
And I will have to admit, FAcebook is the literal equivalent of taking the Dale Carnegie dictum to heart, everyone is interested in themselves. I get messages from people who never wanted to talk to me in person. But they certainly want me to view their Facebook pages. In fact, I don't even know many of these people.
Mr. Zuckerberg is certainly the current IT whiz kid in the tradtion of Gates and Jobs. I am not sure whether the biggest family album in the universe is a real company but I admire Mr. Z if he manages to make himself and his cohorts rich while they can.
Facebook claims 845 M users but on the other hand try to close out your Facebook page. It is near impossible. The analogy may be crude but, Facebooks is the equivalent of a digital Roach Motel; you can't check out. In my mind that raises questions about how many people are really customers. And it raises issues about how many people read ads in Facebook. Oh wait there aren't any ads on Facebook, that\'s why the revenue is one thenth of Google.
Anyway, all of this simply adds to the positive social mood extreme. Dot.lcoms in 2000, real estate in 2007, Facebook and Apple not to mention LULU's pricey yoga outfits, the basis of a strong economy if there ever was one......
Comments