Doug Kass: Et Tu, Mr. Market?
Are debts about to be settled? Is there impending doom amid The Ides of March?
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Julius Caesar statue
I have warned about the perils of market structure for several years.
I sense (in watching the renewed volatility) that the dominance of passive products and strategies (who worship at the altar of price momentum) could now come home to roost with so many on the same side of the market's (long) boat.
Expect wild intraday swings — in both directions.
My advice would be to keep your portfolio's VAR (value at risk) low by adjusting position sizes lower.
Vincenzo Camuccini, Wikimedia Commons
Of course The Ides of March in the Roman calendar is at the middle of the month — a deadline for settling debts. It was also the date of Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC (immortalized by William Shakespeare).
The soothsayer had warned Caesar of The Ides of March — a famous warning of impending danger and, possibly, betrayal.
The Ides of March, March 15, looms ahead (on Sunday).
Et tu, Brute?
Et tu, Mr. Market?
Related: Let's Talk About the Change in Sentiment
This commentary was originally posted in Doug's Daily Diary on TheStreet Pro.
