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Hope all goes well… “Wow, I got real coal – what did I do wrong this year?” whispered one of my many younger brothers, looking around, laughing, kind of. Our four kiddies noticed but barely cared. A nephew giggled, the room chaotic. Mara and I had hosted yet another family holiday, our home bursting at the seams. And late Christmas Eve with fifteen empty stockings lined up on the hearth, Santa considered the na

Hope all goes well… Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah. To you and your families. Resurrected one of my favorite little memories, an opening note from Christmas past… Christmas Day 2013: “Santa slipped down the chimney. Left big boot prints in the ash that spilled across our hearth. And the jolly fella stuffed stockings. Built a train set too. Sprinkled magic everywhere. Moments before the kiddies emerged, sporting thei

Hope all goes well… Dusted off an anecdote about oxymorons, from September 2014, at the dawn of a volatility burst. See you again in January with full weekend notes. Week-in-Review (expressed in YoY terms): Mon: Bitcoin futures begin trading on CBOE, Saudi Arabia to allow cinemas for 1st time in 35yrs, Russia signs $21bln deal to supply Egypt with 5 gigawatt nuclear reactors, Putin announces Syrian pullout, Turkish Q

Hope all goes well… 11 tons of gold bullion. 173 Bugatti Chiron’s. 1,785 four-year Harvard degrees. 9,384 years of paper pushing for an average Saudi civil servant. 79,250 years of Egyptian labor. 90,000 years of Iraqi labor. 203,340 years of Yemeni labor. 281,250 years of slavish Pakistani labor. 450,000,000 US dollars. Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud considered these monetary equivalents, each identical in value to 2 s

Hope all goes well… “When the smartest guys say we’re ninth inning,” bellowed Biggie Too in baritone, “we’re 7th inning, maybe 8th.” The S&P 500 finished November +2.8%, its eighth consecutive monthly gain, a refrain last heard in 2007. Year-to-date the index jumped +18.3%, the forward P/E is 19. Bitcoin popped +1,015% in that time. Market volatility faded to 50yr lows. $8trln of bonds carry negative yields. Inte

Hope all goes well… Dusted off an anecdote from Thanksgiving 2015 (see below). Back next Sunday with full weekend notes. Week-in-Review (expressed in YoY terms): Mon: Beijing tightens shadow banking regulations, Japan exports -0.1 to +14% (imports +6.9 to +18.9%), German coalition talks fail (Merkel calls new election), US sues to prevent AT&T/Time Warner merger, S&P +0.1%; Tue: Tencent market cap surpasses F

Hope all goes well… “This market will end not in euphoria,” said the CIO. “It will be a cynical end, with investors publicly expressing their concern about valuations, while carrying maximum risk in their portfolios.” Hedge fund net long positioning just hit 11yr highs, along with so many extended barometers. “The shadow of 2008 still hangs over the industry. No one wants to sound overly optimistic.” Current valuatio

Hope all goes well… “You know the biggest difference between coaching 3rd grade and high school?” asked Head Coach Grant. And our team fidgeted, squirmed, joked. What a football season we’ve had. I think we won one game but it’s hard to say for sure, after so many months of torture your mind starts to play tricks. Charlie really sucked. But he never cared. Nor did I. Way too early to take this seriously. Charlie’s th

Hope all goes well… “There is no one left at a bottom and no one left at a top,” said Yoda, high in the Rockies, autumn fading, peaks dusted. “Value investors bought the S&P 500 down to 800 in 2009, yet it fell to 666.” That last panic leg found the final seller. “The search for the final buyer has begun,” said Yoda, the market’s biggest S&P 500 local, stepping carefully, deliberate, staff in hand. “We’ll fin

Hope all goes well… Abe wins landslide, Nikkei soars to 21yr high. Xi Jinping is named in China’s constitution, cementing his place alongside Mao, equities jump. House Republicans pass $4trln budget resolution, lifting hopes for a $1.5tlrn tax cut/reform. Despite devastating hurricanes, US Q3 GDP expands 3%, S&P 500 hits record high. VIX 9.80. Biggest Nasdaq 100 daily gain in 2yrs. Bezos becomes world’s richest m