Thursday, May 23, 2013

The Vampire Squid Speaks

Goldman Sachs is a huge investment banking firm, once satirized as a giant vampire squid sucking on the face of mankind.  I find nothing about that description to disagree with!  However, they do have a great research department, and here are some of their latest projections:

1.  GDP growth will sharply accelerate from 1.9% this year to 2.9% next year.
2.  Unemployment will drop to 6.6% by the end of next year.
3.  Inflation remains tame.
4.  The S&P is currently about 1,655 but will end this year at 1,750 and next year at 1,900.
5.  Gold will end next year at $1,270/oz as the dollar rises.
6.  The market will not over-react to the debt deadline this summer.

There was also an interesting discussion about the impossibility of successfully "timing" the market, i.e., buying at the lows and selling at the highs.  While I agree it is foolish to get in and out of the market based on some arbitrary signal, such as a 10% drop to sell everything, for example.  I do think it is prudent to increase cash levels as the market falls and decrease it as the market rises.  Besides, two out of every three years, there is a 10% correction.  Anything that occurs so often must be considered normal.

I've often heard in church that nobody is all bad.  The same is true for vampire squids!