Feels like 1999, only in reverse, doesn’t it? 

Don’t remember 1999?  That was when all news was good news, when stocks could only go up, when valuations didn’t matter, when technology stocks and big cap growth stocks would rule the world, when we hung on the words of Pollyannas and “gurus” expounding the Brave New World that lay in front of us.

How different it is today.  Now, the uber-bears are venerated at Davos.  Seers clamor over each other to up their predictions of imminent disaster.  “$1 trillion in write-downs!”  “No, $2 trillion in write-downs!”  “I say $3 trillion in write-downs!”  $10 trillion!  That’s right $10 trillion!”

Reminds of a mere year ago when the prognosticators were scrambling to out-top each other on the upside for oil.  $150!  $175!  $200!  $350!

Was it really only eight or nine months ago that this blog was pleading with investors not to lose their minds on potash and coal stocks, that prices were unsustainable?  

Remember the euro?  The euro was going to $2, or maybe $3.  I was in Europe a year ago, watching the dollar lose a penny a day to the euro.  Remember that?  I sure did.  It was taking a nice chunk out of my wallet.  Today, the euro is in a death spiral.

And so are stocks.  The panic would almost be amusing if I didn’t know so people getting hurt by it. 

Volume was actually quite light today, with NYSE Composite volume at 5.4 billion, as many investors are out of the office on vacation with their kids this week.  Since the collapse began in September, of the 18 days when the S&P 500 has fallen by 4% of more, this was the second lightest trading day, 19% below the average.

It may be that the selling is exhausting itself.

Today, stocks are as cheap as they have been in generations.  Yet, stocks are toxic.  The day traders and bearish hedge funds rule as they press hard, knowing that the government is impotent, that investors are paralyzed, and there is nothing to stop them.  All the while, they are setting up tremendous opportunities for anyone who can see beyond their nose.

Where is the market going to bottom?  I have no idea.  But the cheaper stocks become, the less I care about technicals.  So I will continue to buy, scaling in as the market gets even more attractive.