"The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware." - Henry Miller

Richard’s Comments

 

Since I call my site and reports Dow Theory letters, I want to spout a bit of Dow Theory now.

 

The power and usefulness of Dow Theory has been doubted and sneered at since the early 1900s, but the effectiveness of Dow Theory has been proven over and over again.

 

By Chuck Butler

 

Welcome to this edition of Chuck’s Thoughts from the Butler Patio. I absolutely love putting these letters together each week for you, dear reader, and hope that I open your eyes to something other than the run of the mill financial letter.

 

Last week, we observed the 10 years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers. To this day, it still irks me to no end that the government decided to save Bear Stearns, but not Lehman Brothers. There’s a great book on the whole subject, Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin ... if you’re not familiar with the whole collapse, you might want to find it and read it!

 

Stocks had a good day for the most part, with the main driver seemingly higher interest rates, based on stronger economic data and a determined disinterest in the trade war front.  Financial companies have better margins when rates are higher, and led the rally in Europe and the US.  The STOXX 600 rose 0.33%, with moderate gains across the board.  The Asia Dow scored a 1.23% gain, with 1% + moves in Japan, China, Singapore and Hong Kong.

 

by Jon S. Strebler

 

In August of 1961, Southern California was in the midst of transforming itself into one of the most desirable areas to live, anywhere. Its unique locale was defined by sunny days, citrus groves, the influences of Hollywood, old Mexico and Disneyland, flavored by warm beaches, verdant mountains, deserts, and Mexico – all within a day’s drive for area residents. San Diego was a Navy town of 575,000 people with plenty of aerospace jobs and an average home value of just under $19,000, which had just convinced the Chargers AFL team to relocate there from Los Angeles.