“Buy On The Cannons”:
“And Sell on the Trumpets”. A brilliant quote from Nathan Rothschild in 1810 implies that investors prefer certainty to indecisiveness. Of course, speaking of war, it is ugly and horrific, but regarding markets, it has often paid to “buy on the cannons” as seen on the chart below. But the “selling on the trumpets” part is more difficult. That part of the equation lends its hand to when it could possibly end. And conflict these days seems to be fought more “off the battlefield”. Sanctions and the like are more commonplace. How long will this skirmish last? Most think it will be short-lived and if that is the case it will be welcomed worldwide. The VIX recorded an ugly reversal today and it was never able to CLOSE above the intraday high of the bearish filled in black candlestick from 2/22. The Nasdaq registered a monster reversal of its own Thursday of 800 handles. Shorts certainly ran for cover and it had a capitulation feel. It was good to see the group being the best of 11 major S&P sectors with the XLK up 3.4%. There are still a plethora of non-believers and it will be interesting to see how Fridays CLOSE shapes up into a long weekend.