☕️ Now what?🤦

Howdy! 👋 

My grandfather used to have a saying, “No good deed goes unpunished.” 

I was never quite sure what it meant — literally — but I sure as heck knew what it meant figuratively.  

Irony is funny that way.  

I’m bringing this up because that's where we find ourselves this morning... 

The markets are going to open up down hard, but we knew this was coming.

If you’ve been following along for any length of time, then you know that we’ve been talking about the importance of owning the very highest-quality names you can find as a proactive defense against exactly this scenario – a process I refer to as ‘buy the best, ignore the rest’. 

You also know about the importance of buying low-beta, high true shareholder yield (TSY) stocks because you'll tend to get a smoother ride especially at times like the present. 

And finally, you know that chaos produces opportunity and the more of the former there is, the more of the latter we have.  

Many people are going to worry about the prospect of a trade war and the media will undoubtedly go into overdrive but that's not really the issue.  

The markets are going to open down significantly because Wall Street’s computers are having to reassess the risks now that we know that tariffs are actually a thing. I know that sounds strange and that you may be wondering how in the heck that's possible but there's a very simple answer.  

Today's markets are highly computerized and although I haven't seen the numbers yet, my guess is that better than 95% of last night's sell-off and this morning’s opening are driven by computer's trading so fast humans can’t keep up.  

Estimates vary, but the latest numbers I've seen suggest that less than 10% of all stock market activity is good, old-fashioned human trading at this point.  

So, the lesson in all this is to take a deep breath and to avoid doing anything stupid. 

No doubt emotions will be running high and the headlines unbelievably scary but that too is by design. Just like Wall Street wants your trading business, the media wants your eyeballs and ratings so they will create the most sensationalist headlines they can to capture your attention. 

Normally, I would encourage every investor with an attention span longer than a mosquito to do a little shopping but today I think getting your emotions under control is the more important issue.  

The markets will be here tomorrow and the day after that. 

There is no rush in life and when it comes to the markets where profits are concerned. 

I'm in the air today, but thanks to the technology we talk about frequently, I will be watching the market carefully.  

Remember, you really DO GOT THIS – I promise!  

As always, let’s MAKE it a great day. 

Keith 😃