EmailI almost made it through the whole week without mentioning it, but now feel compelled to note that shares of some company named Facebook can, as of today, be bought by people other than the extremely rich living in Silicon Valley.
Before sending emails, please note that I lived in the Silicon Valley area for 21 years and loved it. Also, I was a Facebook addict for several years. It is therefore after direct personal experience that I chose to recently cancel my account of that insidious, soul-sapping, dehumanizing, waste-of-time website by which I willingly allowed Big Brother Advertising to spy on my personal habits.
OK, that is intended largely as snark, but really - a $100 billion valuation on a company that allows me to tell supposed "friends" that I just got back from vacation? And yet, the company may within years have nearly half the world (but not me) as viewers. Amazing.
S&P futures suggest an up open of about 5 points and Facebook is even getting some of the credit for that.
The Facebook effect won't last long, though. The problems in Greece and throughout Europe are not going to get any better any time soon. The market could easily sell off late in the day over concerns as to what the weekend could bring.
Moody's downgraded 16 Spanish banks. Capital is fleeing Greece ahead of another round of elections scheduled for next month (which are unlikely to solve anything except possibly confirming an exit from the eurozone). The European debt crisis is far from over.
In the US, politicians are in a dither over the fact that a Facebook founder chooses to no longer live in their country and give them large sums of legally earned money.
The politicians are also upset over the fact that JP Morgan lost a lot of their own shareholders' money. The politicians somehow feel this requires their enlightened intervention and oversight. These are the same politicians that continue to spend other people's money to the tune of a deficit of $1 trillion a year. That's even more than Facebook is worth.
The market has sold off intra-day recently after up opens and similar action is possible today. The tone remains extremely cautious and patience is still a virtue.
After the market closes today, readers might want to check out their Facebook account. It also might be worthwhile to read a book, spend time outside, or even interact with other human beings directly. Of course, as Uncle Anku told Ed, "it's just a suggestion".
Founder and Chairman, Briefing.com
