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| By Gavin Magor |
Holidays are special in my home, as I’m sure they are in yours.
Just take my triple celebration coming up next month.
The day after Christmas Day is Boxing Day and a British national holiday.
The day before Christmas is Julafton in Sweden and is the day they celebrate Christmas. So, I have a two-day work week then as I will be celebrating all three days.
Thanksgiving is similar. We plan on taking both tomorrow and Friday off here at Weiss Ratings.
Oh, we’ll continue to watch the news and the limited trading on Friday.
But we’ll do it with friends and family.
I’m celebrating Thanksgiving like most of you — except I’ll eat lingonberries (not cranberries) with my turkey.
I’ve been in the States since 1997, when millions of Americans watched the NFL’s Detroit Lions devour the Chicago Bears 55-20.
And the same two teams squared off again last year.
You might recall, the Lions again topped the Bears. But it came down to last-minute clock mismanagement that sealed that particular Thanksgiving Day game.
I just hope that similarities between 1997 and these times begin and end with a football game and lingonberries.
That may not be the case, though. The word “exuberance” has been used to describe both eras.
Twenty-eight years ago, investors bought into the Dot-Com explosion big time.
In a now-famous speech by then-Fed Chair Alan Greenspan, he coined the phrase:
"But how do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values, which then become subject to unexpected and prolonged contractions as they have in Japan over the past decade? And how do we factor that assessment into monetary policy?"
He was already cautioning against the absolute freefall that was still a few years away.
By 1998, sentiment pushed markets to new highs, while more cautious investors prepared for the end of the bull market — which ended nastily by 2001.
Today, exuberance has been linked to AI investments.
As a result, we’ve seen markets hitting higher highs the past few years.
The S&P 500 now sits right around 6,700. And the Nasdaq is up 52% since the beginning of last year.
Will the markets suffer the same fate as they did post-1997? No one knows …
What I do know is that you don’t need to worry about the answer.
Preparing for whatever comes our way is our job. We take pride in doing the heavy lifting for you, always.
Weiss Ratings survived — and thrived — during the Dot Com Bubble and Burst, the Financial Crisis of ’08-’09 and the recent pandemic.
No matter what the market throws at us, we’re prepared … and you can be, too … with our ratings.
For that, we are thankful. But we are more thankful for you.
We couldn’t do what we love doing without you, dear reader.
So, I’ll be sure to keep you in mind even as I tuck into my lingonberries and turkey.
The market is closed tomorrow. And Friday is a half-day of trading in the markets. The NYSE and major exchanges close at 1 p.m.
We’ll be watching, even as the office is officially closed. And, again, thank you for being part of the Weiss Ratings Daily family!
Cheers!
Gavin
