I have long been a fan of the Peanuts Gang, Charlie Brown and the rest of the group.  In fact, I sometimes sport my Peanuts themed sweater that has a large image of Snoopy and Woodstock playing football.  But the football image from the Peanuts gang that has been on my mind these days is Lucy holding the ball for Charlie Brown to kick.  To refresh your memory, that is the scene where Charlie Brown worries that Lucy will pull the ball away at the last moment as Charlie Brown goes to kick it.  Lucy insists that she won’t move that ball, but she always does, and Charlie Brown goes flying in the air landing on his back in a painful thump.  “Good Grief”!

It feels like the markets have been subject to their own version of the Lucy & Charlie Brown scene.  Since mid-year we have experienced tumbles as the market reacted to global financial and political news on top of shifting expectations for corporate earnings and economic growth.  The market regroups and gets set for another move back up when it appears that political leaders are finally coming to grips with Europe’s grave systemic problems, only to fall again when the measures taken prove to be inadequate.

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