Finally, sweet freedom has found me.  My work contract, in all of its crippling glory, has finally expired, like some gargantuan chain being released from about my neck and shoulders.  No more must I wait in the corners of rooms watching the main stage, unable to alter the course of my own history.  No more must I make blunt trades in between market sessions hoping, blindly, that they will be marked by serendipity.  The ideal trading hours are once again at the disposal of my fingertips.

I was quite happy as I vacated the tower today, looking appreciatively through my office window at the landscape down below.  Now that my recent work contract is up, I will return to my summer home in the north; a lovely brick home across a golf course, situated tranquilly on a river.

You find me now sipping on a large mug flowing with a delicious stout beer as I assess the markets and attempt to ensure the sanctity of my positions.  I have been detached from the world just long enough to feel uneasy.  Especially when considering the higher close yesterday.

However, there doesn’t yet appear to be anything to place under grave scrutiny.  I would suggest at this point that yesterdays bounce was nothing more, especially in light of our market dropping like a rock again today.  Regardless of the government’s pitiful attempts to spread optimistic light upon our state of affairs, we steadily trend lower.  Perhaps they have begun to lose credibility.  If so, the elected officials have far more to dread than equities shedding prices; the loss of credibility does mar all perceived legitimacy, after all.  If they are not more reserved in these incessant declarations of redemption, you will see many of America’s leaders deposed.

At present, my PBR short is up around 6%, my EMN short is hovering just under 2%, and my COF short is only starting to act rationally, barely in the green.

If you are looking for long term investments that tend to shake market sentiment and retain value, might I suggest MO and RMCF.  Altria and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory have hovered just below where I purchased them.  Both have ample balance sheets with solid dividends.  And to give you an idea of their behavior, both were up last I checked them, in disregard of the sell orders permeating the rest of stocks.

Indeed, the vicissitudinous fads that have paced society, what of pogs and paddles and clothing and crocs, come and go, but it would seem chocolate and tobacco will be forever engraved in our history.

Now, if you will excuse me, I am off to have a late lunch.  Perhaps some middle eastern cuisine encompassing grape leaves and hummus.