Tough Choices
I ran across another couple of good background pieces (here and here) on Europe. I think these stories help put in perspective the difficult problem that europe faces.
I do not see how Europe faces up to this without being pushed into it. And they being pushed into it right now. The question for an investor is how much more pain it will take before Europe resorts to one or both of two possible solutions:
- The ECB assumes lender of last resort indefinitely
- A eurobond is floated
How much more pain? I am afraid it may be a lot. The more unappealing the alternatives, the more pain it takes to cajole someone into taking them. I’ve lightened up on most everything. I am considering lightening up now on my core positions (which thus far I have held steadily) of Arcan and Coastal if the market bounces back this morning. Nothing to do with the companies. I just don’t like where the world, and in particular Europe, looks to be headed.
Meanwhile, the source of my neverending frustration continues. Gold goes to the moon and gold stocks do nothing. For a while yesterday it looked like this might be ending. I saw Jaguar, Argonaut and even OceanaGold up in the morning when the rest of the market was down. This went on most of the day but ended in the last half hour.
Oh well. The companies are printing money at these gold prices. The 3rd quarter results will be tremendous. And it will make it all that much easier for the three above mentioned names to fund their growth plans.
Reminiscences of a Stockblogger 