“Han Solo: How we doin’?
Luke: Same as always.
Han Solo: That bad huh?”
~ “Star Wars, Return of the Jedi”
I was reminded of this fictional conversation as I drove to work this morning. We were already in one of those no-win moods on Wall Street, and now we can add unrest in the Middle East to the long list of worries…
So, have we been naughty or nice? Will we finish the year with a little Santa rally, or will we end up with a lump of coal? Its hard to say. While I have promised not to use AI, it is tempting to cut and paste those previous December Insights. Like 2023, this has been a strange year, especially in the second half.
The market doesn’t get it right every single moment. To quote the wisdom of Agent K from “Men in Black,” “A person is smart. People are dumb, dangerous, panicky animals and you know it.” The market is made up of people. So, what are we to do?
I know we are past Halloween, but everyone seems to be scared of an AI bubble. It seems to be the only thing people can talk about in investing circles. So, are we in an AI bubble? Of course we are, but that is not the right question.
What is the unemployment rate? We don’t know. How many filed for unemployment last week? No clue. Data, data, data…how are we to make bricks without clay? I will freely admit that my name is Chuck and I am an economic-data-aholic. It has been 20 days since my last economic data update.
