topshelf

Friday Roundup: Reality Bites Bulls

This is the longest period of time ever that the actual [REAL] PE of the S&P 500 has not been mentioned. Amazing when you consider this Historically. The S&P 500 is the undisputed Benchmark for the US Stock Market. It wasn't that long ago when there was a standard way to quote and state that PE Ratio. Like several other Market, Economic, and Financial items, we have seen changes made in various ways, anywhere from just totally eliminating, M3 an example, or changing the formula for the Calculation.

Bottom Line re: the S&P 500, I don't believe its Allowed for anyone to mention the Real PE, certainly not on TV, like CNBC, and very rarely in an article, though not in any widely read MSMedia in Print. Mentioning a PE of over 100 would be career suicide, and I believe any TV broadcast would be assured that any guest, talking head, would only talk about such things that are within a near match to the "Script" that gets fed to the Average Joes & Janes.

And lets not forget, this PE of over 100 was only made possible with the assistance of the changes in Accounting & Reporting that a quick Law change was given to the Financials for the reporting of Q1/09.

One thing I find noteworthy is the Standard, Historically used Yardstick hasn't been lost. I noticed this when the PE for China, and some other countries, equivalent Benchmark is quoted, the usual, Standard, historic Yardstick is used. Its just set aside, hidden in a corner, when it comes to our S&P 500 and equities in general. I won't even begin on the topic of why using Operating Earnings should at least be included, since the use of Stock Options for Pay & Compensation is such a large part of total Pay & Compensation in this country compared to the rest of the world.

There should be one Measure, one Yardstick, and it should be the one we always used.

CNBC's Rosenberg: Four Factors at Play in the Market

The Cheaper the Dollar, the Higher the Market. This is what most are missing. Look at a chart of the USD and the DOW, S&P on March 9th. As for Manipulation, we are at Max levels & Rising. The PPT has been on steroids since Paulson took the helm. The Dollar is being sacrificed for the Market and to make our Debt a fraction of today's dollar. I expect to see a New Currency and some Debt, like Mortgage debt, kept fixed on "Old", today's dollar, though payable with the new, and many problems resolved. Think about this.