Take The Weekend Off For Crying
Out Loud!
by Sy Harding, editor
The Street Smart Report
I've
been interviewed a lot on radio financial shows around the country this
year (by telephone), and I've been amazed at the number of those shows that
are increasingly on as late as midnight, and also on weekends.
I
realize most investors only have evenings and weekends to gather financial
information. But still at it at midnight? And on Saturday morning when they
could be out playing golf, or chopping wood, or otherwise winding down from
the moil and toil of earning a living?
The
number of retired folks calling in to weekend shows to talk about their
investments is also surprising, often mentioning they had watched the market's
action all week.
When
they ask what they should do, I want to suggest they begin by looking at
their priorities. Surely they didn't look forward to retirement all their
lives with its dream being of continuously watching a ticker tape, or so
they could worry full time about how Disney or WalMart's business plan is
working out.
This
market has become far too much of an obsession in too many lives. And that's
scary, since Wall Street has always gauged the risk near bull market tops
by the degree of speculation and public participation.
Joseph
P. Kennedy, who made his famous fortune in the stock market, once recounted
how he managed to avoid the 1929 market crash. "When cab drivers began
talking about the market, and giving me stock tips, I knew the end was near."
Kennedy
must be twisting and kicking in his grave watching the current market.
Not
satisfied with having put a record percentage of household assets into the
market, running margin debt (buying stocks with 50% down payments) to record
levels, demanding and receiving access to day-trading against the professionals,
investors have more recently been demanding the ability to trade in after-hours
markets, those thinly traded forums that heretofore were the private domain
of institutions like mutual funds and other large trading firms.
As
a result, investors can now execute trades on a new electronic exchange
called MarketXT, which is open for business two hours each evening beginning
at 6 p.m.
Soon
Online broker E-Trade will begin offering trading for the public from 4
p.m. to 6:30 p.m. through Instinet.
Recently,
the NYSE and Nasdaq both announced they would introduce after-hours trading
on their major exchanges beginning in September. However, that's not going
to happen yet, as the Securities and Exchange Commission pressured them
to wait until next year, to give regulators time to gauge the effect of
after hours trading on public investors.
Some
in the industry are asking why public investors can't find enough time within
the current 9:30 to 4 o'clock session to place their trades.
Seeking
the answer, I tapped into an Online chat room this week where investors
were discussing the situation. The following are some of the comments.
"The
people that run the exchanges should open them up to 24 hour trading, 7
days a week. What are they afraid of? It would give investors more time
to step up and trade."
"I
don't understand why the SEC forced the exchanges to delay until next year.
We're all adults and don't need the SEC's so-called protection from ourselves."
"Twenty-four
hour trading is the answer. It would allow anyone to trade when it's convenient
for them. Who cares if the exchanges would need three shifts of employees
to keep the thing going? WalMart figured it out."
"The
crack in the wall has already been made. Extended hours have to happen now,
whether it's right for us or not. I happen to think it's very right."
"You
guys aren't thinking. They're right that volume in the night sessions won't
be sufficient to provide liquidity and the pros will wipe us out. What happens
to the customer that tries to sell Microsoft at 9 p.m. on Thursday, or 11
a.m. on Saturday, and there are no bids? The pros or the market makers are
going to swoop in with a low-ball bid and take the trade."
Then
a flash of light came in, and the conversation came to a halt for several
moments, when someone sent along the following:
"Take
the weekend off for crying out loud!!! Play with your kids! Take your wife
to the beach! Play golf! Build a barbecue pit! Chasing money forty hours
a week is enough!"
The
chat room quieted down. They did seem to think about it for a minute or
so.
Editor's Note: Sy
Harding is president of Asset Management Research Corp., 169 Daniel Webster
Hwy., Ste 7, Meredith, NH 03253, publisher of The Street Smart Report
Online at www.syharding.com, and the Street Smart Report newsletter
published every 3 weeks for $225 annually. A daily Hotline is also available
twice each day 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. via 1-900-820-2020 (2-3 min. messages @
$2.40/min.) Sy Harding is author of Riding the BearHow to Prosper in
the Coming Bear Market available at most book stores and amazon.com
and barnesandnoble.com. Mr. Harding is consistently ranked a Top Stock Market
Timer, and Top Gold Timer by Timer Digest a service that monitors
the performance of investment advisory newsletters.
