The earth shook this week. For some, on the east coast, there was a 5.8 tremble. I didn't feel it because, like always, I missed the party for being upstate. For others, the tectonic shift was Steve Jobs resignation and/or Libya's Ghadafi firing....literally, even his traveling tent went up in smoke, poof! For me, it was seeing that my portfolio is actually in the green for once.
The markets ended the week happy as we await the next big natural disaster to hit our coast, Hurricane Irene. On one international business news web site, the top economic stories included the weather forecast and Burger King adding a new sandwich, the California Whopper. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of impact, if any, Irene will have on the markets come Monday. Disasters in the past, such as Japan’s earthquake and the tornadoes in the Midwest, have effected the markets only because of what those specific regions produced. Japan slowed down manufacturing and the Midwest bit into commodities. There may be a slight reactionary slip in the Dow, the workplace may close for a day and the MTA is taking off, but what does New York City really have to lose, as Wall Street prepares to work from home over the next few days.
The impending drama of a hurricane is giving investors a needed break to focus on, well, life. There has been little mention of global meltdowns, kicking cans or soft patches. Other than the Fed peeping out of his hole to tease the markets with the possibility of further action, and the IMF keeping the focus on banks, we’re all just taking in the calm before the storm.
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