Welcome Back

I hope your long weekend was well and filled with rich celebrations. Many thanks to all of our veterans, naturally.

I’m watching some of my stocks reverse from this mornings rally. Several of my higher performing names have turned lower. Yet others of my worse performing names are continuing upwards. This could be money reallocating into risk, or it could just be the first swing to a weak close.

Mind you, I am not acting on the above paragraph. This is just me musing.

There were several developments that occurred this weekend which you should be aware of, if not concerned about.

The first was a sweeping rebuke of Putin’s “We Were Invited” argument for annexation of his neighbors property. Ukraine voted overwhelmingly, in all regions of the country, to retain sovereignty. Putin was forced to acknowledge this humiliation, as Ukrainians demonstrated real courage, casting votes of disobedience at the point of a gun. Well done. Then this morning, Ukrainian forces successfully hunted down a group of insurrectionists that had seized an airport. This all goes a long way to stemming the bleeding.

The second was an equally sweeping referendum of an election against the EU. The powers that created the EU have, again, been put on the spot, much to their surprise. While they sputter and try and pretend that this isn’t happening, the average European citizen (who is not a crazed ideologue) continues to clearly articulate that the deterioration of country borders into a power, international entity is unwelcome.

That is more or less the sole purpose of the EU. Whether or not it translates into action remains to be seen. For the moment, one can simply comment that much of the purpose of the Union which goes above and beyond mere open trade and international cooperation, is being received very poorly even this long after the beginning.