October Surprise

With all the bad news impacting the stock market over the summer, I wouldn’t blame you if you just stopped paying attention.  After all, that’s what I tell you to do.  Stop looking.  Don’t get caught up in the crisis du jour and the fake news playbook that says you must react.

Our playbook says no one down, or even set of downs will determine the outcome of the game.  Loss of yardage is not a concern because we know it’s temporary.  

Because we stick to our game plan, we don’t leave the field when we’re down. We know soon be marching downfield, taking back territory, and continuing to score.

We’re investors, not traders or speculators.  That’s why the day to day, quarter to quarter, and year to year market moves don’t phase us.  We know the temporary pullbacks are the tradeoff for the historically positive long-term results.

So when you weren’t looking you might have missed an October surprise.  

No, the Inflation Reduction Act still hasn’t reduced inflation.

And “Safe and Effective” is still just a marketing slogan.

The stock market delivers the October surprise.

The market, as measured by the Dow, turned in its best month since before Bo Duke was hood sliding in Hazzard County. The blue chip index rising 14% for the month, its best month since 1976.

The S&P 500 and NASDAQ both posting single-digit gains for the month.

For investors, it can be the hardest thing to do.  And that is nothing.  Doing nothing.

What part of buying low, selling high requires action when the market is down.  Yeah, buying, not selling.  That’s the opposite.  

Let the traders and speculators try to time the market.  We’re long term investors and we don’t do market timing or economic forecasting.

We’ll go back to what we do best.  Turning off the TV and not looking.