Is it just our imagination, or have the stock market and the election campaign been tracking pretty closely lately? One day, we read that Obama has clinched the nomination; the next, that his name is mud in Pennsylvania. He's Mr. Clean in a Newsweek feature story, then he gets tarred-and-feathered four days later by the Chicago Tribune for his alleged ties to some sleazy local businessman. At more or less the same time, the stock market soars because 'the worst is behind us;' then it tanks three days later because crude oil prices are out of control. Not a week later, it surges anew, supposedly because investors are thrilled when they discover that the big banks are reporting Q1 losses of no more than about $6 billion apiece. How much more of this schizophrenia are we going to have to put up with? Will the stock market have to break out of its 2008 range before we have a clear winner in the Democratic primaries? Or, conversely, is an Obama victory in the upcoming North Carolina and Indiana ballots needed to send stocks soaring/plummeting decisively? If the picture doesn't clear up before the Democratic National Convention in Denver this summer, we may be forced to take the gas pipe. Meanwhile, whatever happens, it can't happen too soon, since the tedium of the last few weeks seems to be driving Rick's Picks chat-room denizens to the edge of madness. Try to imagine what your neighborhood would be like if nearly everyone in it spent six hours a day tracking the price movement of Comex Silver on a five-minute bar chart. A snippet of dialogue: Harry: Say, Bob, it looks like that pear tree of yours survived another Colorado winter. Bob: A=17.25, B=17.67, C=17.53, D=17.96. Harry: What time-frame are you using? Bob:
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