Some Thoughts on Market Timing

I am neither a market timer nor the son of a market timer. I left my office in the Texas Rangers ballpark this year, and they went to the World Series. I bought Dallas Cowboys season tickets for the first time in 50 years, as they went down in flames. But I do know a few very good timers, and they are sending out warnings. Today, we look at a few of these, as it might pay to hedge some of your equity portfolio as we go into the New Year. I also answer some questions as to my view of the municipal bond market, given the 60 Minutes report of last week. The answers may surprise you. And as we approach the end of the year, I suggest a place where your help is most needed. I will try to keep it shorter, as there are more important things at this time of the year than the markets.

A little housekeeping. I will not be doing an Outside the Box next Monday or an e-letter next Friday. I am off on a little R&R with my youngest son. But I will be back in full swing come the first of the year and will do my annual forecast issue the first Friday evening in January.

We Lost One of the Really Good Guys

In January I wrote about my friend Walt Ratterman, who was at the Hotel Montana in Haiti when the earthquake hit. Walt's wife Jeanne received an email only 10 minutes before the quake, which placed him in the courtyard, where he would have been OK. After the quake there was an eerie silence as we waited for Walt to call. We all assumed he was helping…