Sideways Blogging

Okay so I'm remiss not to have posted in almost a month, but frankly not a lot has changed - we're still on a bumpy path sideways, and that's to be expected. It fits the fundamentals and the fundamentals, while they could have shifted, they haven't. There's nothing really new going on, and that includes continued volatility from which everyone should be making money, upward and downward.

Yesterday, September 6th, everyone was freaking out about uncertainty in Europe. Today Germany's courts have approved a system wherein Germany can participate more freely in EU bailouts (hello Greece). But has there ever been doubt that a bailout or series of bailouts are going to happen? Is there doubt that there will be some kind of managed Greek default? How substantially different are those things? These are questions answerable a month ago. From Reuters:

European stocks bounced back from a two-year low after the court rejected lawsuits aimed at blocking the country's participation in aid to Greece and other nations.

But the court said the government must first get approval from a parliamentary committee, which could further slow a response. The FTS Eurofirst 300 index of top European shares increased 2.8 percent.

Blah blah blah. In terms of crisis management, this is a big "Duh!" moment. And it moves markets. The key to crisis management is bringing stability. It never comes fast enough. But the pursuit of stability creates an atmosphere of predictability.