In Transit...

I'll be taking a few days off from posting. I'm at YVR now awaiting my flight to Duesseldorf (you gotta see the new fish tank in the international departures area! Way cool!) I'll be staying in Cologne for a few days before arriving at my ultimate destination of Muenster.

Trying to get myself organized for this move has been especially difficult with the recent volatility in the markets, which have been, as one could imagine, screaming for attention (or complete ignorance, depending on your preference.)

At one point this morning, seeing Citigroup trading at a number similar to Roberto Luongo's Goals Against Average, I remember thinking that nobody in their right mind would want to own financial stocks right now. Without pausing further, I signed into my brokerage account and placed an order for UYG - the double long leveraged US Financial ETF. If it felt that wrong, it must have been right. And sure enough, we got some big time rippage into the close on news that Timothy Geithner will be the new Treasury Secretary. Why that was seen as good news is beyond me. But I wouldn't be surprised to see some "coordinated efforts" this weekend so he can wear a smile at his official press conference on Monday and claim to have "saved the day."

I'm not sure what makes me more cynical. Anticipating a big rally or continued weakness. But it just seemed to me that anyone buying stocks today was doing it with a wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Nobody really wants to own anything, just borrow them. 'Tis a great market for traders, and I hope to do quite a bit more of that than usual once I get settled.

All the best!