“Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into that storm and shout as you did in Rome. Do your worst, for I will do mine! Then the fates will know you as we know you: as Albert Mondego, the man!”
~Edmond Dantes (Jim Caviezel), The Count of Monte Cristo, 2002.
Considering the volatility in equity markets recently, there is another quotation that could have come to your mind; from Tennyson’s The Charge of the Light Brigade: … “Into the valley of death rode the six hundred.”
So let me assure you that the great companies in America and the world were not, and are not, riding into the valley of death. They, like the young Albert Mondego, have been tested. Indeed, they are the spine of the Global Capitalist Revolution and the brain of Freedom and Prosperity.
Markets fluctuate. In economic terms the world-wide electronic auction of stocks and bonds is called “price discovery”, and it’s the most efficient and equitable system of capital allocation ever invented.
Forget the politicians and their hangers-on. Ditto, the talking heads and newsletter copywriters. At their best, they’re braggarts; at their worst, they’re speed bumps. The great companies have faced threats of every kind, and not only survived but prospered. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution - through war and peace, through inflation and deflation, through hardship and prosperity, through temporary defeat to ultimate victory– the great businesses have met every challenge with wisdom and insight. Courage, my friends, and
PATIENCE, DISCIPLINE, and CONFIDENCE in the FUTURE! mh
The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results.