Thursday, September 22, 2011

Breakdown, go ahead, give it to me

I rarely read the online comments to my columns on Barrons and especially not on Marketwatch. Anyone with lotion and a sock can rip anyone's work to shreds without really backing it up with proof. If I need to be told I'm an idiot I'll just ask my teenagers.

But I did steal a peak at one where the argument against me was that I used copper and small caps as indicators for the market. "It's a tech economy" he or she wrote.

Did you notice the difference? I was using time tested inductors for the market while Pee Wee wrote about the economy. A tad different, yes?

In July, I wrote that the industrial sector broke down just before the broad market broke. Funny - we still don't make too much stuff here in the country yet this indicator was spot on.

And last week, I started writing about base metals, coal, machinery and other heavy cyclicals breaking down - ahead of yesterday's rout and today's apparent continuation.

The moral of the story about how this time is not different. What has driven markets for centuries is still driving them today - human nature. And human nature leaves giant footprints for us to follow.

And there will be giant footprints telling us when the carnage is over, too.

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