Alan Brochstein

Thursday Was a Huge Day for This Market

Stoney, I am not sure what you are saying about "every time I come to a decision..." My calls have been spot-on all year. Perhaps you are referring to a comment I made regarding very short-term I tend to be wrong when I write (by like a day or so). I would certainly "clam up" if I didn't think that I was actually nailing it with respect to market timing. The last thing the world needs is another 50% accurate market-timer! Maybe that's all I will prove to be, but review my posts this year and you will see that I entered the year bearish, switched the weekend before MLK day, got bearish again, got bullish just before BS blew up (and reiterated after). I haven't been short a single stock since March. I even own some of the stuff I used to be short (TIE, NTAP).

Yes, IBD has missed a few, but I still give their philosphy a great deal of respect. As far as sentiment, I watch cash levels for mutual funds, P/C ratios on sell-offs, short-interest levels and, quite frankly, the types of reactions I get when I publish what I view as contrarian ideas. I have noticed the stronger the backlash, the more likely I am to be correct.