Pages

Friday, December 19, 2014

Year End 2014

2014 slipping by, another year to be retired,
Let’s review what we have seen, what really has transpired.
The year started out so cold, we learned a phrase called polar vortex,
That chilled us to our bones, and brain froze our frontal cortex.
Another chilling event, was the ebola epidemic,
Concerns about its spread, were more than merely academic.
Democrats took a beating, in this year’s mid-term elections,
As the right wing took the Senate, handing incumbents their ejections.

Give me Crimea for an appetizer, said the grabby Vladimir Putin,
For dessert some eastern Ukraine, as I continue with my lootin’.
Shooting down a Malaysian plane, was clearly this year’s biggest error,
While Islamic State emerged, as this year’s biggest terror.
Boko Haram was close behind, with their heinous kidnap attack,
Many have now forgotten, that the girls have still not been brought back.
A Pakistani school, another of this year’s horror scenes,
Resulting in the death, of a hundred innocent teens.

Farewell we said to others, their absence gives us shivers,
The world is laughing less, without our friend Joan Rivers.
We miss you Robin Williams, hysterical and looney,
Goodbye to Shirley Temple, goodbye to Mickey Rooney.
Godspeed to Maya Angelou, her poetry so sublime,
Casey Kasem left us too, up the charts he made us climb.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, each role played with finesse,
Oscar de la Renta, who showed us how to dress.

The big story in the markets, was the mighty US dollar,
If you were long against the Ruble, you’re a wealthy FX scholar.
The BOJ continued easing, causing the Yen to take a tumble,
Though in the end the Abenomics, may yet fall apart and crumble.
The Fed wrapped up the taper, though the ten year rate went lower,
As the expansion and inflation, proceeded to grow slower.
Two nasty falls from grace, that took most by surprise,
Crude oil and the bond king, both well off of their highs.

Meanwhile in the stocks, M&A was all the rage,
With healthcare deal inversions, taking center stage.
Actavis snatched up Allergan, Medtronic bought Covidien,
All boosting banker bonuses, by a couple of hundred million.
Google built a Nest, Suntory swallowed Beam,
Apple boogied to the Beats, Ballmer bought the LA team.
Facebook said What’sApp?, Comcast hooked up with Time Warner,
Halliburton took Baker Hughes, DirecTV’s in Ma Bell’s corner.

If you missed the market rally, if you took a hit on Shire,
Stay calm and please don’t panic, things are not so very dire.
If your returns are flat or down, though this makes you quite frustrated,
Take solace in the fact, your returns are not correlated.
Look at the bigger picture, even if your performance makes you vomit,
The European NASA, put a spacecraft on a comet.
The holidays are here, may the New Year bring you luck,
Things are looking up already, Obama’s a lame duck.