The Market, Energy, And Political Page, T+55 -- July 25, 2018

Original Post

Hunch: for the time-date stamp bragging rights, my hunch is that the best-selling book in 2019, possibly 2020, will be The Rise and Fall of Donald J Trump. Just saying. [I posted that on July 25, 2018. Four days later, July 29, 2018, this op-ed in The NY Times the day after President Trump meets with the publisher of The New York Times: "How Trump Lost Re-Election in 2020." And the publisher of the NY Times had the gall to ask Trump to quit tweeting about the mainstream media.]

T+55. Link here.

Great moments in presidential politics, in no particular order: ObamaCare. Bay of Pigs. Trade war. Iran hostage crisis. Katrina. 18 and 1/2 minutes. Read my lips. Iran-Contra. 

$12 billion bailout (which, by the way, I support, but wish it had not been necessary.)

Dow: down 40. White noise.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.

Non-Dow indices: all up; many hitting new records.

What does the Dow have in common with Libya: both are irrelevant. The Dow is made up of 30 components, any of which can be removed and substituted at any time, at the whim of the puppeteer. Witness GE. Gone. Replaced by a "high flyer."

S & P 500: five hundred vs 30.

NASDAQ: more than 3,300 listings.

Russell 2000: quick! How many companies are "listed" in the Russell 2000?

The Dow: 30. Mostly the bluest of the blue chip stocks most suitable for widow and orphans. Does the Dow puppeteer require that a component pay a dividend?

BRK: could easily replace the Dow as one index to put up there on the crawler along with the NASDAQ, Russell 2000, the S&P. In fact, one could argue, BRK is a better "index" than the Dow.

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