E-piphany

From Merriam-Webster:

1 capitalized : January 6 observed as a church festival in commemoration of the coming of the Magi as the first manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles or in the Eastern Church in commemoration of the baptism of Christ Nope!
2 : an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being Not here!
3 a (1) : a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something (2) : an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking (3) : an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure b : a revealing scene or moment By golly, that’s it!

So, it turns out that writing commentary is somewhat of an addiction. I first began writing market commentary in 1990, when I worked for a company called Technical Data in Boston (it is now part of Thomson Financial). If you know the BondData or MoneyData product – I was writing on those products back then.

I wrote an internal commentary called “Nerd Notes” when I was at JP Morgan; wrote a more-detailed customer-focused commentary called the “U.S. Government Trading Commentary” for Bankers Trust; “Mountains and Molehills” for Deutsche Bank, “Sales and Trading Commentary from the US Interest Rate Derivatives Desk” at Barclays, and then “Inflation Desk Commentary” at Natixis. Sprinkled in between were various private letters: “Speculator’s Diary” and “Ashton Analytics Daily Commentary.”

Periodically, I have attempted to stop. It can be exhausting to write a market commentary. But it helps me to clarify my own thinking, collect contrary (and sometimes, confirming)  opinions from other people who read my thoughts, and maintain my connections with a broad network of market contacts.

I hope you like it. Please feel free to comment on any post. You need not agree, and indeed I welcome considered counterargument. I insist that we debate politely, however, and we may not (and often will not) reach a consensus between us. If you enjoy comparing thoughts, then I think and hope you’ll enjoy reading and participating on this blog.

One other housekeeping note: all of the opinions expressed on this blog are mine alone and are not meant to be trading advice or recommendations in any way.

Thanks for stopping by!