In my Week In Review I recall making a comment that these Big Swinging Dicks have a tendency to be letting the clients rearrange deck chairs on the sinking ship while they are manning the lifeboats for Friends & Family.

Maybe that’s a little harsh, but my point ought not be missed. If there is going to be a shake-out in stocks and bonds, it pays the Little Guy to watch how the shares of Humungous Bank & Broker are faring. In my experience, these brokers are typically leading the market up and down.

In this case, I’m concerned that the next phase is down.

XBD Index Hourly Chart

XBD Index Daily Chart

Charts of Leading Components of Humungous Bank & Broker: Hourly

Charts of Leading Components of Humungous Bank & Broker: Daily

Charts of Leading Components of Humungous Bank & Broker: Weekly

As I pointed out on the weekend, the two guiding principles of any broker-dealer are (i) protect your capital, and (ii) know your client. Unlike the medical profession, there is no ‘Do No Harm’ oath that I ever came across in my years in the business.

So, it behooves us to adopt the strategy, ‘Do No Harm To Ourself’ and in that regard, ‘Be Ever Vigilant of Financial Salespersons At Times of Calamity in Capital Markets’.

Sorry, readers, I just got so busy on so many fronts today, I couldn’t get around to the ETF review. But I was contacted by a world-known magazine on other matters, so I pitched the idea of a comprehensive review of ETF’s with contributions by independent bloggers like me (and my buds in the blogosphere).

I’ll try to get around to this review tomorrow.

One thing I agreed to let slip was the self-imposed deadline on the publication of my book. The thing simply is like Webster’s Dictionary Large Print Edition. It’s a monster. People will get hernias just lifting it.

I’m hoping in that case that the book is just uplifting in itself. (smiley goes here).

I’m guessing but with five weeks in bed in Jan-Feb and the PDAC March 4-7 coming up, I’m really six weeks behind, and the publisher/editor are thankful we’re on the same page in thinking a delay would be kind to us all.