Social mood and the markets: It’s getting ugly

Learning to how to judge social mood can tell you a lot about which way the market is heading, says John C Burford.

I don't often comment on the general news, but the following report from Germany made my blood go cold and is an omen for a very disturbed 2015, socially and in the markets.

As you know, I believe markets are driven by the prevailing social mood. If this mood is generally positive as it has been since the credit crunch markets will rise and risk will be embraced.

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John is is a British-born lapsed PhD physicist, who previously worked for Nasa on the Mars exploration team. He is a former commodity trading advisor with the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission, and worked in a boutique futures house in California in the 1980s.

 

He was a partner in one of the first futures newsletter advisory services, based in Washington DC, specialising in pork bellies and currencies. John is primarily a chart-reading trader, having cut his trading teeth in the days before PCs.

 

As well as his work in the financial world, he has launched, run and sold several 'real' businesses producing 'real' products.