The Flinchum File

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When ?

The most common question I’m hearing is — “When will the market stop falling?”
What they mean is — “When will the pain stop?”

Once investors stop asking when the market will bounce back and start asking when the pain will stop, that is a bullish signal.

The answer is — “Not this week!”  Mutual funds will close their books this Friday.  Since the best performing asset this quarter has been cash, mutual fund managers will be selling stock this week to make their cash position look better at year-end.  It makes the manager look more cautious and is called window-dressing.

If this week passes without significant additional losses, we may be at or very near to the bottom.