What is he smoking?

Investors would be aware that since August till yesterday the global financial markets were in turmoil. According to Bloomberg reports about 10 trillion of dollars have been wiped out from the stock markets over this short period of time.

Volatility in the financial markets has yet to subside. No one knows when it will subside. Those who have sold off their stocks in early July or those already swimming in liquidity (the fishes) could be the lucky ones.

For all we know, the pigs and those who had been averaging down their stocks could be facing more difficult times up ahead. Perhaps like the Book of Changes say during that time – within the turmoil – “They bear shame”.

The farmers who rear the pigs are the ones who bear shame. The holes dug by the greedy animals are way too deep for the farmers to fill in, try as they may. And whence have greedy pigs felt shame?

Yesterday on Bloomberg TV, a reporter asked a fund manager on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange what he thinks investors should do since the global stock markets were falling like ten pins. The Nasdaq, Dow, and the S&P 500 were down around 4% each, at the time of the interview. The fund manager remained unflustered and kept on saying it was the right time to buy stocks until the anchor woman interjected and pass on to him some email messages from viewers.

“What is he smoking?” The viewers had asked.

And I chuckled after hearing this.

The fund manager countered that he has been asking his clients to do the same. The anchor woman added, “You have been optimistic since the beginning of the year.”

No wonder the savvy US investors have been withdrawing many billions of dollars from the investment funds since the second quarter of 2011. Perhaps they had also wondered what their fund managers have been smoking after September 2008!