Among the exercises I occasionally undertake is to dig into the history books and see, in retrospect, how things have played out relative to what the punditocracy had proclaimed (works with punditry on politics, markets, economics, sports, etc.) . With Barron’s releasing its semi-annual “big money” survey, there’s really no better opportunity to page back through history. As we went through the worst economic near-collapse in generations, I always find it most instructive to start my analysis in the summer/fall of 2007 and take it from there. (I will never, ever forget attending a very small dinner on the evening of October 2, 2007 (at Casa Lever, then Lever House), at which David Rosenberg was the speaker. He laid out his assessment of what was happening – and what was going to happen – in the economy, and the group of 12 or so (most unfamiliar with his work or world view) looked at him as if he were a Klingon. Total disbelief. The S&P500 peaked one week later to the day – October 9, 2007.)
The current big money poll (Reason To Cheer), brings us this (S&P500 = ~1380):
America’s portfolio managers see more gains for stocks in our latest Big Money poll. They are wary of bonds, hopeful about the economy and predict that President Obama will be re-elected.
On that note, let’s have a look at where the Barron’s big money participants stood in early November 2007 (S&P500 = ~1520):
Although U.S. money managers are less optimistic than in the spring, bulls still outnumber bears by more than 2-to-1. Some even say the Dow will top 16,000 by mid-2008. Insights into bonds, politics, the Fed and more.
Can you see where this is going?
Keep reading to see where this is going: The Big Picture.
