Will the Sun Ever Shine Again ?

Living here in northeast Massachusetts, the question should be taken literally. For two weeks it has been cold and rainy every day. My small yard will soon be a mushroom patch. At least I live on a hillside, so flooding is not a worry. My position was well-selected for defense against man and nature.

Listening to financial news, that question takes on sardonic meaning. Bad news is met by renewed gloom. Good news is re-interpreted as either bad or merely temporary. Pundits and some Nobel laureate economists look for a new wave of weakness upon any positive uptick.

Let's look at few facts - from FT, of course.

"The global downturn appeared close to a bottom on Wednesday after manufacturing figures from across the world suggested the worldwide recession was running out of steam in all big economies.

"The welcome news comes after nine months of the sharpest contraction in global manufacturing output since the second world war and a dramatic plunge in world trade as buyers of capital goods and consumer durables effectively went on strike. ...

"The June data on Wednesday came from a series of surveys of purchasing managers in the manufacturing sector, the area of the global economy hardest hit by the recession. Although the headline figures were positive only in China, the manufacturing output element of the data was positive in the US, the UK and Japan as well. "

I suppose I'll be accused of data mining. If so, it's a world-wide mine.

Markets

Yesterday was a typical day. Real buyers stepped up early, trend-followers piled on, some shorts covered. Then real buyers used patience and the beefer traders bailed and a few shorts became bold. A solid gain, if unimpressive. Beefer antics are tiring.

Word of the Day

"Salacious" - adjective [$10]; an old one from the card file
Salacious means 1. arousing sexual desire or imagination; 2. lecherous, lustful
Sentence: The salacious behavior of another Bible-thumping Republican politician is symptomatic of the decline of that party.

Le Mot Du Jour

"Chômage" - noun, masculine
Chômage means unemployment.
La Phrase: Le taux de chômage haussera aujourd'hui.
Sentence: The unemployment rate will rise today.

[By the way, when I'm unprepared, I fall back on French as it's my best foreign language.]