Now that the holidays are over and everyone's turning to the matter of how to invest in today's market.
Of course, I was asked the famous question: "What stocks do you recommend right now?" I simply can't answer that -- I don't know. But as the "expected" resumption of the bear market failed to occur, heads start rolling...
So how about 2010? Perhaps we can take a cue from 2003, where the initial explosive uptrend slowly gave way to years of grinding every higher, while a bubble occurred somewhere else. (Stocks were never in a bubble in the latest saga of this bull market, incidentally). Or perhaps we can learn from 1975, where we promptly dived down again to set the ultimate inflation-adjusted low around 1982. Hm...
Several factors do confirm a new bull market: a dip in unemployment, a steep yield curve with incredibly low (read: inflationary) short-term rates, the sheer magnitude of the rally, etc. But the economic reality on main street doesn't add up. People still don't have jobs, and the general attitude continues to be save, save, save.
What will be the next bubble? No one knows.
