Stock Market Opportunities Arise from Mass Hysteria

This a perfect example of the masses leaping before they look. In this instance, the crowd has not even bothered to examine the data closely. If they did, they would have seen that the so-called experts are nothing but jackass in disguise.

Long before this pandemic hit, we stated that central bankers, especially the Fed, were on a mission to take rates towards zero. Imagine how people would have reacted if the Fed had lowered interest rates by 150 bases two weeks ago. When the Fed cut rates before the coronavirus attack, experts were quick to label them as being reckless, but now after a 150 basis point cut, they say more has to be done.

Notice the ploy here; to do that which the masses abhor, one has to create a situation that distracts their attention. Then offer a solution three times as damaging as the previous one, and in their desperation to seek safety, they will agree to whatever course of action is laid out.

Panic Can Destroy Your Investment Portfolio

The system will be flooded with so much liquidity that the markets will melt upward when the media reports the data more accurately. Right now, they talk about the mortality rate without breaking the data down and informing the masses that older individuals are the ones that fall into the high-risk category. Even then, most of them appear to have some other complications already.

Updated mortality rate by age group

http://bit.ly/3aNsmpX

Notice how mild it is for those under 50, but let’s assume it’s 1.3%; no data is provided on whether these individuals had any existing conditions. So far, they are using stats to manipulate the data to suit whatever outcome they want to project onto the masses. A more robust approach (which would be relatively easy) would entail listing any other conditions the patient might have had before becoming infected.

Furthermore, the overall death rate is relatively low when you look at the data from countries with sound health systems. Look at Japan, Germany, Denmark, South Korea, Switzerland, Singapore, Taiwan, etc.. The total death rate is well below 1.5 and, in many cases, below one per cent, and that’s accounting for all age groups. For example, Singapore has zero deaths, Taiwan only has one, and so on.

An Alternate Reality or a Distorted Reflection of Our World

The media is pushing theories without all the data, and if you read almost all the stories, you will see experts using words such as may, could, and might, but the masses treat these opinions as facts. Try to google the term, “is the Coronavirus from the same family as the flu virus: ”

You won’t find any articles directly answering the question in the top 10 search results. Instead, you will find a plethora of articles that go on describe how dangerous the new variant of the Coronavirus is. These articles were there before, but now they have been pushed to the bottom pages where no one bothers to look at them.

Narratives are created on the Fly.

The answer is simple, yes, it’s from the same family, but it’s a more virulent version. After going through six pages of results, I could barely find a straight answer on Google that discussed only the coronavirus related to influenza. I had to use duckduckgo.com, and only then was I able to find something of value on the first page, but after scrolling down the article in question was I able to find the following info:

Human coronavirus is pretty common throughout the world, according to the CDC. Scientists know of seven different types, and many of them cause colds, says infectious disease expert Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. However, two newer types—MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV—can cause severe illness. http://bit.ly/2UeuVL5

So why can’t the most popular search engine provide an article in the top 10 results that will answer the question directly? The answer is that high-ranking media sites push an enormous amount of opinion-based articles, replacing articles from lower-ranking sites that would have responded to the question. Most individuals will not sift through pages of data looking for the answer; they stop at the first page and usually look at the top results.

The Danger of Mass Hysteria in Investing

This hysteria-based sell-off is producing one of the most significant buying opportunities in decades; more on that later.

The short-term technical analysis cannot identify support levels because we are dealing with madness, so we added the new standard to the anxiety index. What exacerbates the situation is that there is very little liquidity; look at the bid and ask price on some options. They are unreal, for example, a bid of 1.40 and an ask of 5.00. This allows a few big players to move the markets in whatever direction they see fit.

Factors That Can Help Stabilize The situation

The Fed throws the Kitchen and Kitchen sink at this market, unveiling a vast Stimulus package.
The press starts to report the news accurately; all they have to do is go to worldmeters.info to get a better take on what is going on.
A new rapid detection test is announced.
The US comes up with concrete measures to rapidly test a large number of individuals. This would be seen as good news because the average death rate is 1.39%, and that’s considering all groups. This is significantly lower than in China and many other nations.
A vaccine works in clinical trials. The FDA is going to approve the usage of this vaccine extremely fast. However, data has to show that it works even with limited trials.
A treatment that has a 90% cure rate.,

Rational Investing: Staying Calm Amid Mass Hysteria

when you add in stupidity and ineptitude by the elected officials, what should have been a mild situation turned into a nightmare-type scenario. We are supposedly the most advanced nation on earth, but after the current debacle, one would be hard-pressed to call the US advanced, at least in the medical arena.

We know that a vaccine and a better treatment will be found; it is just a matter of time. As for the press and politicians acting sensibly, that’s a hard call.

This chart from the 1940s clearly illustrates that every so-called crash has proved to be a buying opportunity, and in the long run, bears are always killed, but the same cannot be said of bulls. Hence, when the trend is up, and it is up right now, every strong correction has to be viewed through a bullish lens.

Mass Hysteria is A Contrarian Investor’s Best Friend

Still, the long-term outlook is given, as this crash started on a note of uncertainty, unlike every previous market crash.

“the time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets.” Baron Rothschild

Losing your head in a crisis is a good way to become the crisis. – C.J. Redwine

Sooner or later comes a crisis in our affairs, and how we meet it determines our future happiness and success. Since the beginning of time, every form of life has been called upon to meet such crisis. – Robert Collier

Successful people recognise crisis as a time for change – from lesser to greater, smaller to bigger. – Edwin Louis Cole

It’s not always easy to do what’s not popular, but that’s where you make your money. Buy stocks that look bad to less careful investors and hang on until their real value is recognized. I’ve never bought a stock unless, in my view, it was on sale. Buy on the cannons and sell on the trumpets John Neff

In order to win as a contrarian, you need the right timing and you have to put on a position in the appropriate size. If you do it too small, it’s not meaningful. If you do it too big, you can get wiped out if your timing is slightly off. The process requires courage, commitment and an understanding of your own psychology Michael Steinhardt

Mass Hysteria: More Quotes From Great Minds

I will tell you how to become rich…Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful. Warren Buffett

To succeed as a contrarian, you must recognize what the crowd believes, have concrete justification for why the majority is wrong, and have the patience and conviction to stick with what is, by definition, an unpopular bet. Whitney Tilson

Humans are prone to herd because it is always warmer and safer in the middle of the herd. Indeed, our brains are wired to make us social animals. We feel the pain of social exclusion in the same parts of the brain where we feel real physical pain. So being a contrarian is a little bit like having your arm broken on a regular basis. James Montier

There are many who give advice, but few that offer guidance. Anonymous

Our all-time favourite

To buy when others are despondently selling and to sell when others are euphorically buying takes the greatest courage, but provides the greatest profit. Bull markets are born in pessimism, grow on scepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria. The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy, and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell. If you want to have a better performance than the crowd, you must do things differently from the crowd. Sir John Templeton

Insight into the Future: A Look at the Stock Market’s Outlook

We have moved deeper into the madness zone, and neutral sentiment has dropped to levels not seen for years. It is trading at 13, but bullish sentiment, while below its historical average, is still relatively high; it would be ideal to drop below 24. Bearish sentiment continues to trend higher, and that’s a good sign. As things stand now, we are close to another “mother of all buy signals” that would match 1987 and 2008. Our indicators need to dip slightly lower into the oversold range.

As per our trend indicator, the trend is positive, suggesting that every pullback ranging from mild to wild should be embraced.