Faster horses
Well-known member
Jeff Matthews: GOP Midterm Victory Will Lift "Wet Blanket" Off Economy, Stocks
Stocks drifted lower early Thursday as the market continues to meander about in a trading range that's been in place since late 2009.
Jeff Matthews, general partner of Ram Partners, says the trading range is most likely to be resolved with a breakout rather than a breakdown -- but not until after the mid-term election and assuming big Republican gains.
"If we get some kind of resolution to this [election] where we get a more friendly environment for business, I think that will remove this cap" on the market, Matthews says.
The issue is not simply the removal of "uncertainty" about policy but the direction thereof.
The health-care bill has been "a huge wet blanket" on the recovery by inhibiting big businesses from hiring, he says. While taxes are almost certainly going up regardless, Matthews suggested Republican control of one or both houses of Congress could mean the unwinding of the health-care mandate and a less onerous implementation of financial reform.
"It matters what happens" in Washington, he says. "We've got an administration...that has gone after the financial services industry, gone after the healthcare industry and made those businesses somewhat less profitable going forward. So that matters."
As detailed here many hedge funds are reducing their exposure as they wait for more clear direction on the market, and the policy backdrop. Ram Partners is no exception; Matthews says his fund is "more flat and more hedged" than normal.
"We're not great day traders - we're not playing the dollar or gold or the VIX or anything like that - we're looking for good bargains," he says. A bottoms-up stock picker by trade, Matthews fund has core long-term holdings in diverse names, including Williams-Sonoma, Autodesk, Trimble Navigation and Apple, but "nothing I'm recommending now or pounding the table on."
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/jeff-matthews-gop-midterm-victory-will-lift-%22wet-blanket%22-off-economy-stocks-535298.html?tickers=TRMB,AAPL,WSM,DHI,XHB,%5EGSPC,%5EDJI&sec=topStories&pos=7&asset=&ccode=
.
Stocks drifted lower early Thursday as the market continues to meander about in a trading range that's been in place since late 2009.
Jeff Matthews, general partner of Ram Partners, says the trading range is most likely to be resolved with a breakout rather than a breakdown -- but not until after the mid-term election and assuming big Republican gains.
"If we get some kind of resolution to this [election] where we get a more friendly environment for business, I think that will remove this cap" on the market, Matthews says.
The issue is not simply the removal of "uncertainty" about policy but the direction thereof.
The health-care bill has been "a huge wet blanket" on the recovery by inhibiting big businesses from hiring, he says. While taxes are almost certainly going up regardless, Matthews suggested Republican control of one or both houses of Congress could mean the unwinding of the health-care mandate and a less onerous implementation of financial reform.
"It matters what happens" in Washington, he says. "We've got an administration...that has gone after the financial services industry, gone after the healthcare industry and made those businesses somewhat less profitable going forward. So that matters."
As detailed here many hedge funds are reducing their exposure as they wait for more clear direction on the market, and the policy backdrop. Ram Partners is no exception; Matthews says his fund is "more flat and more hedged" than normal.
"We're not great day traders - we're not playing the dollar or gold or the VIX or anything like that - we're looking for good bargains," he says. A bottoms-up stock picker by trade, Matthews fund has core long-term holdings in diverse names, including Williams-Sonoma, Autodesk, Trimble Navigation and Apple, but "nothing I'm recommending now or pounding the table on."
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/jeff-matthews-gop-midterm-victory-will-lift-%22wet-blanket%22-off-economy-stocks-535298.html?tickers=TRMB,AAPL,WSM,DHI,XHB,%5EGSPC,%5EDJI&sec=topStories&pos=7&asset=&ccode=
.