Taking Stock

I have always treated the Stock market with an air of caution. I regard it as a treacherous beast that should be kept at a safe distance. They don’t call it a bear market for nothing! My apprehension is largely derived from a lack of understanding and an equal indifference towards learning the ways of the mysterious creature, as I predict an inevitable mauling, no matter how comprehensive my knowledge.

Nonetheless, there will always be herds of new traders ready to replace the old. Like moths to the flame, they are beckoned by the sirens who promise vast riches – bright eyed and bushy tailed, free from the worry and quashed dreams of their forebears – they pit their wits against the market only to be wounded in moments, such as the 416 points drop the Dow suffered on Tuesday 27th February – the worst loss since September 11th 2001.

The immediate aftermath of the event has focussed on the global and personal repercussions of such erratic market behaviour. Is this an early indication of a market crash? Are we heading for a recession? Will we lose everything we own and wind up living in caves, eating spit roasted sheep we’ve strangled to death on a scraggy moor?! Unlikely. But nonetheless, no one can categorically answer these questions; speculative reasons for the market glitch include ‘mass panic’, which I find a little unnerving. I rue the day I arrive at work to hear “sorry boss (I’m the boss in my head) we just lost £20 million because some people got a bit flustered.”

I wonder how the big dogs of the finance world handle this sort of news? If Hollywood is to be believed, they will retain a veneer of collected calm before launching into a breathtaking speech, after which, all losses peter into insignificance, failing that, there is always the option of heading out on a murderous rampage!

Personally, I feel narcissistically inept and overly abundant in character depth to deal with this world, so I will leave it to those greedier and braver than myself. Fortune does, after all, favour the brave.

Top 5 financial protagonists:

1. Patrick Bateman (American Psycho)
2. Gordon Gekko (Wall Street)
3. Nick Leeson (Rogue Trader)
4. Louis Winthrope III (Trading Places)
5. Seth Davis (Boiler Room)

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