War is good for stocks, as some old-timers like to remind us, so perhaps all that’s needed to push the Dow to new record highs is more Iraqs, Lebanons, Gazas  and Afghanistans? One could even imagine that a mushroom cloud in some already blighted corner of the world would be just the thing to send blue chip shares hurtling toward the cosmic heights once predicted with great fanfare by that shameless huckster, Harry Dent. Was it Dow 36,000 he was looking for? I don’t recall the exact number, but exactitude was never the point of it, anyway; rather, it was the creation of a limitless vista for investors: a horizon line stretching beyond the wildest dreams of even the greediest and neediest –  one that promised real wealth for anyone patient enough to simply buy stocks and hold onto them for the next twenty years.

Meanwhile, with the Indoos up more than 200 points yesterday, one wonders how many Iraqis would have to get blown to bits in order for them to reclaim top billing at CNBC, Fox and CNN. Here, in fact, is the Fox feature of the hour: “Is Wall Street Worried that Hezbollah Is in America?” Only if they are not shopping, a cynic might reply. But the question seems beside the point on a day in which stocks have staged their sharpest rally in years. Perhaps we should chalk it up to a relieved consensus that Hezbollah are the bad guys, and that they are unlikely to prevail in the current war. If this theory is correct, we should expect stocks to have fallen in China and Russia, where, apparently, neither Hezbollah nor its Iranian sponsor is perceived as a threat to anyone. For the same reason, stocks would be likely to have turned in a mixed performance on the Paris bourse.

Condie will be in the Middle East tomorrow, presumably south of Israel’s border with Lebanon, where she will be relatively safe if not entirely welcome. Will she poop Wall Street’s party, and Israel’s survival odds, by demanding that a ceasefire be implemented? For the sake of shareholders everywhere (except in China and Russia, that is), let’s hope Hezbollah greets her with a terrorist’s version of the Bronx cheer. That’ll be just what Wall Street wants to hear, since it will imply that the war can continue to an end that would be perceived as satisfactory to U.S. investors.

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Vancouver Seminar

We’ve engaged the Pan Pacific Hotel for the Vancouver seminar in late October, promising an event that will be just as enjoyable for spouse and kids as for attendees. The facility is central to many of the amenities that make Vancouver such a great town. If you’re interested and haven’t contacted me yet,  please let me know via-email .  Is this seminar for you? Here’s a prospectus so that you can decide for yourself:

Trust Yourself,

Not Some Guru

Would you like to be able to forecast trends and price swings so accurately that you’ll never again have to seek advice from the supposed experts? That is the goal of the Hidden-Pivot Seminar: to teach you to read the markets so confidently that you will come to trust your own judgment over that of gurus who forecast for a living.

My proprietary Hidden-Pivot Method derives from a few simple principles that I’ve developed and honed over the last twelve years. It is the simplest and most powerful method I have ever found for predicting trends and price swings accurately and with complete confidence. Moreover, it works in any time frame and for virtually all types of securities, including stocks, indexes, commodities and options.

Inhale…Exhale

The system is based on the theory that stocks and commodities are constantly trying to balance yin and yang energy as they move around. Their ups and downs are analogous to breathing in and breathing out, and in the end these complementary actions must offset each other precisely. The trick to understanding how the process works in the securities markets is to visually match up trend segments that are part of ABCD patterns on charts.

A Student’s Experience

Here is what one of my grads, Hunter Reynolds, had to say recently about the chat room that has been set up to provide post-grad mentoring:

"We have all come a long way. I think everyone here is making a little $$, or we would be doing something else by now. I can honestly say I am up about ten percent, maybe a little more, since your class.  I am pretty conservative.  I just trade from the long side, but I'm getting really good at picking the hidden-pivot reversal points for the uptrend!"

Dates are not yet firm for a fourth seminar to be held in Sydney, Australia, but it looks like it will take place in early December. The class is filling up, so do let me know soon if you’d like to attend.