I get Gary Smith (aka The Chartman) daily picks email to my mailbox (the free version, yes I’m a cheapskate) and todays email sums up nicely the current “action” in the market.

Daily picks, 6/17: Never, as far as I can remember

Written by Gary Smith    
Tuesday, 16 June 2009 17:06

The title refers to the time we’re in right now, in which I can’t recall in almost 20 years of doing this, having so few picks (or “none” as the case may be) for so many days in a row.

 But, that’s what I have as we sit here and wait for somthing –anything! — to happen!

And that is the final word from gladwell.com where the author of Outliers claims one needs 10,000 hours at something to be world-class.  So, let’s see: I now bike about 18 hours per week.  That means that in 10 odd years, when I’m 61, I’ll be a champ.  Boy, I hope I last that long!

Btw, I don’t subscribe since I like doing my own research but his charts do make sense.

I’m taking half of July off but I might as well have stopped trading beginning of June as there are very very few opportunities. The new swing strategy is making a modest contribution to the bottom line but other than that it’s mostly treading water now.

Everyone is familiar with the January effect, which means it’s not easily exploitable over the last few years as it started to creep into December or not happen at all. With the current major decline, and general public dismay with the market I wonder whether the early/end of the year effect will return. On the one hand less people are bullish so they’re less likely to be eager to to pump in money ahead of the Jan effect, while on the other hand redemptions from funds have risen dramatically (as they usually do when the going gets tough) and there’s money on the sidelines waiting to go back in or flip from short. Either way it will be interesting to see if we get any effect or if rallies keep getting hammered back. So far this morning it’s surprising to see the market making new highs after 10am :-)

Tags: Investing, January Effect, Stock Market