'Nothing' Doing
If you’ve been asked in the past two weeks what to do about the market (and who hasn’t), I’m sure your response has been something along the lines of . . . “Nothing.” There are, of course, more eloquent ways to express that sentiment. And, let’s face it, when it seems that everyone is asking that question—it’s generally well past the time when it is prudent to try and do—well, anything. Still, it seems that throughout my professional career, every time the market plunges (even when it stays down for an extended period), the pundits all seem to say the same thing; “the fundamentals are sound,” “we’re going through a period of short-term volatility,” or “we were due for a correction” (sometimes all of the above). Granted, this period seems unusual—there is a non-financial cause (the coronavirus outbreak) that is projected/anticipated to have a financial impact of unknown size and duration. That it has emerged at the outset of what is likely to be one of the more conten...