As 2006 draws to a close, and with Wall Street’s year-end bonuses in-the-bag, we shouldn’t expect much more than meaningless noise this week. Expect sellers who ganged up on stocks in the days preceding Christmas to recede into the background, allowing the Street’s wonted OPM-driven cluelessness to work in favor of share prices for the remainder of the year. The supposed reason for the selling on Thursday and Friday was weakness in manufacturing orders. But if and when investors come to their senses they will realize there was never much cause for concern, given that America’s manufacturing sector has dwindled nearly to nothing. Shouldn’t we try to see the bright side for what remains of it?  For one, we can look forward to the day when the world’s largest automaker, Toyota, takes over the operations of GM and Ford. With any luck, this will occur before China figures out how to make a great luxury car for under $20,000.

Concerning the local scene, I am dismayed to report that the mayhem that prevailed last week at Denver International Airport has not entirely subsided. Half of the friends and relatives who were coming to Colorado for Christmas didn’t make it; they simply gave up. One traveler who did not throw in the towel is my good friend Jon, a 200,000-mile-a-year flier who rerouted himself and his family through Albuquerque the moment he learned that his flight from New Jersey to Denver on Wednesday had been canceled. He rented a car in New Mexico and got to Vail a day later than planned, but that will still allow him and his family full week of skiing, and for me and my family to join them later in the week. I haven’t worked out the details yet, but Thursday’s touts will likely be the last update for 2006. If you’d planned on trading Friday, consider taking the day off instead. You may need all of your strength if 2007 comes on like a tsunami, as well it may.

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London Seminar Firming

A Hidden Pivot seminar in London appears likely, judging from the strong response I’ve received in just the last few days.  If you’d be interested in attending a two-day class there, probably sometime in the spring of 2007, please let me know via e-mail, including your contact information. The cost would be $1,500 USD.