The Monday-Post-Ash Wednesday War Report: Stocks Lifted by Greek Deal
Last week wasn't fun for rational investors. Stock continued their irrational climb, this time because of a so-called "deal" on Greece. This "deal" which lifted stocks from somnambulism to victory march amounts to nothing more than an agreement to kick the can down the road for another four weeks, but hey, a deal's a deal, and in this irrational climb to who-knows-where, the stock market was more than happy to oblige with a jump to the stars late Friday afternoon.
In other weekly action, bonds - a counterweight to January's stock price dive - continued correcting, and gold - a rational man's choice for lasting value - continued to be the recipient of a thousand little cuts.
So what's a rational person to do in this investment environment? Perhaps one reasonable response would be to remember that we're at war when we invest our hard-earned money, as we apply the appropriate salves to our various wounds - depending on where you've invested that money. And with the Monday morning bell now only hours away, we'd better be prepared for the fight ahead.
Meanwhile, last week also saw another reminder of war as Ash Wednesday gathered millions of Catholics from every quarter. Even those who hardly ever, if at all, attend Sunday Mass dutifully received those black crosses or spots (depending on who administered them) on their foreheads. While the tradition reminds us that we "are dust, and unto dust we shall return," the greater significance of Ash Wednesday would be the beginning of Lent. And Lent represents that time when the war between right and wrong, good and evil, even the ugly and the Beautiful, stands out from the usual din of our daily lives and draws us into battle.
Why would Lent especially remind us of this war? Because we're called, among other things, to fast, that is, to impose some discipline on our otherwise flabby, lazy, sinful bodies and souls. Our fasting - whatever form it might take - will help us achieve at least some rudimentary level of control over the sensual urges that entice us into all sorts of actions that, if not sinful, at the very least consist of bad decisions that weaken our physical nature. Our fasting also helps us sharpen our mental acuity and balance our emotions such that we make better decisions both by better use of our intellectual faculties and by constraining those feelings that cause us to make bad choices. Hence our souls awake from the torpor of quotidian indulgences and seek the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, rather than the false, the bad, and the ugly - the usual fare of those who believe that the world begins and ends with their own little space here on the planet earth.
In short, Lent openly, clearly blatantly, and loudly, calls us to war. The trumpets sound on Ash Wednesday. And while the ashes only last a single day, we soldiers march to the thumping drumbeat of physical and spiritual discipline throughout the remaining forty days and nights of this special religious season.
So what's the connection between last week's market action and Ash Wednesday as the first day of Lent? We said it already: war! And as Monday begins another week in the investment wars drawing our bruised and bloodied animal spirits back into the investment fray, so are our bruised and bloody souls drawn back into the spiritual battles that await us this week. All we can hope is that our preparation, our vigilance, our diligence, and our persistence will work together to help us win this week's battles. But win our lose this week, we know we will have to be ready yet again to commence fighting yet again, and again, and again.
In other weekly action, bonds - a counterweight to January's stock price dive - continued correcting, and gold - a rational man's choice for lasting value - continued to be the recipient of a thousand little cuts.
So what's a rational person to do in this investment environment? Perhaps one reasonable response would be to remember that we're at war when we invest our hard-earned money, as we apply the appropriate salves to our various wounds - depending on where you've invested that money. And with the Monday morning bell now only hours away, we'd better be prepared for the fight ahead.
Meanwhile, last week also saw another reminder of war as Ash Wednesday gathered millions of Catholics from every quarter. Even those who hardly ever, if at all, attend Sunday Mass dutifully received those black crosses or spots (depending on who administered them) on their foreheads. While the tradition reminds us that we "are dust, and unto dust we shall return," the greater significance of Ash Wednesday would be the beginning of Lent. And Lent represents that time when the war between right and wrong, good and evil, even the ugly and the Beautiful, stands out from the usual din of our daily lives and draws us into battle.
Why would Lent especially remind us of this war? Because we're called, among other things, to fast, that is, to impose some discipline on our otherwise flabby, lazy, sinful bodies and souls. Our fasting - whatever form it might take - will help us achieve at least some rudimentary level of control over the sensual urges that entice us into all sorts of actions that, if not sinful, at the very least consist of bad decisions that weaken our physical nature. Our fasting also helps us sharpen our mental acuity and balance our emotions such that we make better decisions both by better use of our intellectual faculties and by constraining those feelings that cause us to make bad choices. Hence our souls awake from the torpor of quotidian indulgences and seek the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, rather than the false, the bad, and the ugly - the usual fare of those who believe that the world begins and ends with their own little space here on the planet earth.
In short, Lent openly, clearly blatantly, and loudly, calls us to war. The trumpets sound on Ash Wednesday. And while the ashes only last a single day, we soldiers march to the thumping drumbeat of physical and spiritual discipline throughout the remaining forty days and nights of this special religious season.
So what's the connection between last week's market action and Ash Wednesday as the first day of Lent? We said it already: war! And as Monday begins another week in the investment wars drawing our bruised and bloodied animal spirits back into the investment fray, so are our bruised and bloody souls drawn back into the spiritual battles that await us this week. All we can hope is that our preparation, our vigilance, our diligence, and our persistence will work together to help us win this week's battles. But win our lose this week, we know we will have to be ready yet again to commence fighting yet again, and again, and again.
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