Marketview: Careful of that ticking noise under the hood | Dynamic Hedge

Dynamic Hedge writes:

A few weeks back I noted that the market had the potential to “shift gears into full rocket mode or sputter out at the 1700 figure and back fill.” So far, it has chosen to sputter out at the 1700 level. We now have more information and can confirm that under the hood, the market is not as strong as we’d like to see. It is too early to tell if we are in real danger here, but market conditions like usually mean you should ratchet down your risk tolerance: tighten up stops, or move to overall defensive positions. I do not feel that the overall bull run has concluded, but you’ve got to be aware of the warning signs….

For more on the warning signs, read Marketview: Careful of that ticking noise under the hood | Dynamic Hedge.

Pro-Growth and Pro-Wall Street is an Oxymoron | Beat the Press

Dean Baker responds to a NYT opinion that “Mr. Clinton is the president who made the sustained case to Democrats that they had to be pro-growth and pro-Wall Street, not just to get elected, but also to build a more modern economy.”

President Clinton’s policies set the country on a course of bubble driven growth. The prosperity of the last four years of his administration was driven by an unsustainable stock bubble. The collapse of the bubble was responsible for the recession of 2001 and the deficits that get the Washington establishment types so excited. It was difficult for the economy to recover from this downturn which led to, at the time, the longest period without job growth since the Great Depression. When the economy finally did recover from this downturn and start to create jobs it was on the back of the housing bubble.

via Pro-Growth and Pro-Wall Street is an Oxymoron | Beat the Press.