effiiciency

Buy and Hold Is Alive and Well

I can't pass this one up. In 1949, after 15 years of lobbying, the NYSE specialist en masse became expempt from Federal Reserve Regulations 'T" and "U".

This brought about several advantages, one being a tax-segregated omnibus account. That intrument ushered in the 1949-1966 bull market.

Point being.................... and hold works as "long" as you're aligned with the specialist (and willing to contend with his day to day inventory adjustments as well as his other role of maintaining a "fair and orderly" market. In essence, he can be long and short simultaneously.

That said, when he pulls the plug (matures the omnibus account and pays his capital gains) probably due to either a lack of alibis to move paper further OR he's sold out and postured to go net short on an alibi (such as Bear Stearns or Lehman Bros), then the word "humbled" is re-defined.

The specialist is THEE entity most married to a given stock. CEO's come and go but "he's" perpetual.

KO matured long ago. 1997. All you need to do is simply look at a long term (20 year) chart.

As a special sidenote, there is indeed a PPT, but it operates in the futures market, hardly all issues, and runs counter TO the specialst who deals in the acutal paper. DAILY. Perpetually.