Watch the Dow today

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. Had one of my regularly scheduled chats with my financial guy yesterday.

His first question to me was what did I think of what the market's been doing lately. My response was that it goes a bit up, it goes a bit down, and I'm not at all concerned at this point.

He was happy I see it this way.

We also discussed the fact that there has not been a full 10% correction in a very long time. People see what looks like a very large drop because the raw numbers seem large, but we're talking minuscule percentage points.

As I type this, the Dow is down some 85 points, .35 %. That's point three five percent. A third of a percentage point.

This small daily or weekly up and down is, according to my financial guy, the markets going sideways. Which promotes a lot of uncertainty. Meanwhile, according to him, what matters the most is earnings. And earnings are up for most companies and are projected to be up significantly this year. Perhaps as much as 25%.

Also, no one ever seems to start a thread on a day when the Dow ends up, as it did yesterday, when it gained nearly a full percent.

I think it's also good to keep in mind that most of the trading is done with computer programs, and not by individuals phoning their broker and saying Buy! or Sell!