Several significant things happened that night. Elvis touched the collective nerve of the nation with his voice, beauty, and stage presence, transcending traditional age and race divisions within the American culture of the 1950s. Audiences applauded his voice and singing talent, but they screamed for the way Elvis performed. He didn’t just sing a song on stage, he entertained people-gyrating, swaying, and flashing his little boy smile. To many of his female fans, the songs he sang were secondary to his personality and the way he performed them, evoking an emotional response that made the girls swoon. As a result, the Sullivan show achieved an audience share of 82 percent, a record never equaled until the Beatles appeared years later. It was clear that Elvis was amassing fans; it was clear that people wanted to love him. And that night, Sullivan gave America permission to do so and to invite Elvis into their lives and their culture. Following Elvis’s performance, Sullivan walked over to him, put his arm around his shoulder, and told America, with great sincerity, that Elvis was “a fine and decent boy.” From that point on, entertainment was never the same, dividing the history of twentieth century music into before Elvis (B.E.) and afterElvis (A.E.) timeframes. Many would argue that American culture was also forever changed. The young, white, and openly sexual performer created upheaval in many households, causing teens to butt heads with their parents’ primarily Victorian values and embrace the statement Elvis made with his risqu
Percentage Movements, Market Low
September 4th, 2009 — Investment Strategies
66), we can readily see why this viewpoint appeared valid until fairly recent years.
Between 1897 and 1949 there were ten complete market cycles, running from bear market low to bull market high and back to bear market low. Six of these took no longer than four years, four ran for six or seven years, and one-the famous “new era” cycle of 1921
Stock Market, Market Movements
September 4th, 2009 — Investment Strategies
The farther one gets from Wall Street, the more skepticism one will find, we believe, as to the pretensions of stock market forecasting or timing. The investor can scarcely take seriously the innumerable predictions which appear almost daily and are his for the asking. Yet in many cases he pays attention to them and even acts upon them. Why? Because he has been persuaded that it is important for him to form some opinion of the future course of the stock The Investor and Market Fluctuations 189market, and because he feels that the brokerage or service forecast is at least more dependable than his own.* We lack space here to discuss in detail the pros and cons of market forecasting. Agreat deal of brain power goes into this field, and undoubtedly some people can make money by being good stockmarket analysts. But it is absurd to think that the general public can ever make money out of market forecasts. For who will buy when the general public, at a given signal, rushes to sell out at a profit? If you, the reader, expect to get rich over the years by following some system or leadership in market forecasting, you must be expecting to try to do what countless others are aiming at, and to be able to do it better than your numerous competitors in the market. There is no basis either in logic or in experience for assuming that any typical or average investor can anticipate market movements more successfully than the general public, of which he is himself a part.