Sinking feeling

On Wednesday, despite expectations, the US Federal Reserve and its chief Bernanke decided to continue to pour money down the throats of greedy bankers. The response was  hurrah in the form of a surge in the stock markets around the world.  It was big but not massive. Those guys know that the evil hour has been postponed but that it will come. The market made another new high and then crashed on Friday This time it was with massive volume.

Part of the reason for this surge is that quadruple witching (when a variety of derivatives expire and have to be repurchased or cancelled) pushed up volume. It coincided with a re-balancing of portfolios by tracker funds as the index components changed.

I never ignore big spikes in the volume of trade because they almost always coincide with a shift in the direction of the market. Result is that I am left feeling distinctly queezy. I am well invested. My purchases have yet to show a decent profit and here I am being forced to sell.

I cannot say I am looking froward to Monday's open. I strongly suspect I shall be forced to grab what I can as the market follows through on Friday's dive. Hey Ho. That's the way it goes sometimes.

At least the S&P fell less than the DOW suggesting that it was the large capitalization shares that fell most. Not the shares I buy.

Comparison across the world

Here's an interesting comparison of how the world's markets have moved in relation to each other over the past year.