Anybody Buying Yet? Where’s the Bottom?

[BigHornRam]

Set back for the wealth tax advocates. Nazi guy in Maine is dropping out of Senate race. Stevie Wonder saw that coming.

 

[Bonasababy]

It would be interesting to see what they say. I tilt toward it being part of the Accountant Full Employment rules.

A couple of things to mull over. Guidance is not a requirement. Many companies have gone away from giving it, but the rest of the them still have people working on some stupid financial model to provide a number that CEO doesn't like and he just makes up a number instead. But I digress. (sorry, flashback on that one...).

The talk of less frequent reporting has been bounced around for a long time. Sometimes the argument was "less work for people and cheaper", which no one really bought. I don't think it applies here much either. With today's technology, it should be pretty easy for a greenhorn accountant with minimal training to throw out a 10Q on the SEC website. There is also no law requiring a quarterly conference call, so they can stop doing them.


I mostly just roll my eyes at this. Like I said, it has come up over the last 25 yrs. In the past, the main argument has been investors should be focused on the long term, so quarterly earnings are unnecessary and lead to stock price volatility. The argument is you can reduce the share price volatility if you take away what causes it. What this argument ceases to understand is that the market NEEDS volatility. Every buyer needs a seller. It is as much an input as it is a measurable result. If you take away earnings reports, investors/traders will focus on something else to determine if they should buy or sell. Warsh is going to learn the same thing with Fed communication and interest rate volatility. Add to that, the current environment requires CEO's to be sales people - sell the narrative. Can't do that without a qtly call.

There has always been a political tilt to the arguments. Rep want to help companies reduce cost, Dems argue that investors need more information. I don't think most investors have ever cracked a 10Q and most advisors haven't either. Both groups trade on inside information so they don't care much about investors or transparency.

I know too many people who have lost trust in markets and arent investing like they should. Thankfully most have employers that push hard to help save for retirement. But all these easing decisions dont help peoples trust of the regulators, IMO.

 

[Bonasababy]

Set back for the wealth tax advocates. Nazi guy in Maine is dropping out of Senate race. Stevie Wonder saw that coming.

National news is saying he is mulling over his options. Has until the 13th to allow a replacement in time, I heard.

I dont see this as affecting tax strategy much at all.

 

[Treeshark]

I know too many people who have lost trust in markets and arent investing like they should.

Losing trust in investing in the markets after the past few (or fifteen) years especially seems like a crazy conclusion to arrive at to me.

Any idea why?