I'd be remiss if I didn't first acknowledge how incredible of a baseball game that was last night. If anyone didn't get a chance to watch the remarkable game 6 of the World Series last night between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers, then I highly recommend you finding a tv and watching Sportscenter so you can at least understand some of what took place last night. I'll just say this, the lead changed over 5 times, and St. Louis had to score in the bottom of the 8th/9th/10th/11th innings to eventually win the game with a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 11th. It was by far one of the best World Series games of all time.
Anywho, with respects to the markets, stocks were up huge yesterday thanks to the European Union coming to terms on how they would tackle the Greece debt crisis. While this was cheered by the global markets, and it should have been, it was merely the first step of many that the EU will need to take in order to fully and effectively address and manage the financial crisis over there. In looking at the broader picture, I believe the European economy (the collection of member nations) is on the verge of entering into a recession and will subsequently be in one next year. A recession is exactly what the U.S. was in from 2006-2009, and as I've written we are currently struggling to crawl ourselves out of such. The collective economies of Europe are struggle, and when you look at the declining growth AND the financial crisis that has been occuring and will continue to plague the continent, it is difficult for me not to fully expect a recession...this is the reason that I have avoided investing money into European stocks or mutual funds, and I would continue to look for other geographic regions to invest in (such as Asia/Latin America, and some Emerging Markets - which I'll write about soon).
Thirty minutes into the final trading day of the week, the markets are relatively flat, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of profit taking going on. It appears that some investors have sold small amounts of stock this morning, but all in all its been quiet so far. I do not necessarily attribute this to everyone thinking that it's time to jump head first into the markets because Europe is trying to get their act together, I think it's because investors are simply tired. The constant ups and downs that we've seen in the markets over the past month are tiresome, and after the big rally yesterday, I would not be surprised to see a quiet day today.
OR it could be that everyone, myself included, is excited about and anticipating the final game of the World Series tonight! (Not to mention all the college football this weekend).
I'm sorry but I have to say it, Go Rangers!
