'Spaghetti Monster' scares Off Creationist Pols

MrKen is considering becoming a "Pastafarian". Pastafarians believe that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe...

An artistic drawing of Him creating a mountain, trees, and a midget. Remember, we are all His creatures.

The following story is curtesy of 'Undernews' (12/26/07)...

TAMPA TRIBUNE [At the Polk County School Board] five of its seven members declared a personal belief in the concept of intelligent design, the religiously based explanation of the development of life believed in by many Christians.

Four of those five sympathetic board members said they would like to see intelligent design taught in Polk schools as an alternative to Darwinian evolution, at a time when new state standards mentioning evolution by name for the first time are under consideration. . .

Yet a few weeks later, the controversy is dying with a whimper. There's no board support for a challenge to the proposed standards. Some of the five school board members blame the local newspaper for trying to start a fight. . .

What happened? You can start with the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The satirical religious Web site asserts that an omnipotent, airborne clump of spaghetti intelligently designed all life with the deft touch of its "noodly appendage." Adherents call themselves Pastafarians. They deluged Polk school board members with e-mail demanding equal time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism's version of intelligent design.

"They've made us the laughingstock of the world," said Margaret Lofton, a school board member who supports intelligent design. She dismissed the e-mail as ridiculous and insulting.

To visit the 'Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster', please follow this link:
http://www.venganza.org/

To visit the 'Undernews' site, please follow this link:
http://prorev.com/2007/12/spaghetti-monster-scares-off.html

Weekly CBOE Put/Call Ratio Turns Bullish -- A Tradeable Rally?

Per Barron's Market Laboratory - Indicators (12/24/07), the weekly put/call ratio has turned bullish, especially for equity options.

"Investors rely on the equity put-call ratio, which tends to track individual trades, and the index put-call ratio, which reflects professional and institutional strategies, as contrary sentiment indicators. The higher the put trading, the more bullish the indication and vice-versa..."

"Readings in the CBOE equity put-call ratio of 60:100 and in the S&P 100 of 125:100 are considered bullish...Bearish signals flash when the equity put-call level reaches the vicinity of about 30:100 and the index ratio hits 75:100."

MrKen notes that the equity put-call ratio was .84 for the week ended 12/14/07, the highest since a reading of .91 for the week ended August 17--which preceded a rally of @ 1000 points in the Dow-Jones Industrial Average. The S&P 100 Index (OEX) ratio was at 1.26, a mildly bullish reading--but far off its levels of 1.65 for the week ended 8/24/07 and 1.88 for the week ended 10/12/07.

In addition, the AAII Index (American Association of individual investors) for last week was 35.9% Bullish & 47.2% Bearish--another contrary indicator giving off a short-term 'buy' reading.

So, it looks like Santa Claus may show up on Wall Street in the 'Nick' of time, after all!

Disclaimer: MrKen is NOT a registered Investment Advisor & NONE of the above should be taken as investment advice. It is the writer's Personal opinion ONLY, except where specific cites are given. MrKen has no market positions at the time of this post.

To view this week's Barron's for free, follow this link (MrKen has no connection to Barron's, except as a devoted reader for over 40 years):

http://online.barrons.com/this_week

Dow Theory Bear Market Signal & Sentiment Readings-- Follow-Ups

In the Dec. 10 issue of Barron's, Richard Russell, the publisher of Dow Theory Letters, discounted the Dow's recent (at the time) ebullience as characteristic of every bear kickoff.

"Often, bear market rallies look better than the real thing," warns Russell. "But once the market tops out, it will continue down until it's severely undervalued again."

Even if one is skeptical of technical analysis, one reason to care about Dow Theory is that so many others do--especially institutional investors who leave a large wake..

MrKen notes that the rally from the late November lows has resulted in weakened sentiment readings. According to Investor's Intelligence, the latest sounding of advisory sentiment showed a marked increase in bullishness to 53.3%, from 49.4%, and a corresponding shrinkage in bearishness to 25.6%, from 27.6%--these are, of course, contrary indicators (curtesy of Alan Abelson's-"Up & Down Wall Street" column-Barron's,12/17/07). Similarly, the AAII (American Association of Individual Investors) Index is 47.6% Bullish & 35.7% Bearish, up sharply from readings 3 weeks ago of 28.6% Bullish & 56.1% Bearish (from Barron's 'Market Laboratory-Indicators, 12/17/07).

It would therefore seem that the technical underpinnings of the stock market for a sharp "Santa Claus" end-of-the-year rally are absent from the scene--despite reported heavy insider buying of retail & some financial issues.

Disclaimer: MrKen is NOT a registered Investment Advisor & NONE of the above should be taken as investment advice. It is the writer's Personal opinion ONLY, except where specific cites are given. MrKen has no market positions at the time of this post.

To view this week's Barron's for free, follow this link (MrKen has no connection to Barron's, except as a devoted reader for over 40 years):

http://online.barrons.com/this_week

'Dow Theory' Major Bear Market Signal

According to the Nov. 12 issue of Barron's, Richard Russell, the publisher of Dow Theory Letters, indicated the potential of a classic Dow Theory bear-market signal.

"The Dow Jones Industrial and Transportation averages plunged to end-of-day lows of 12,845.78 and 4,672.35, respectively, on Aug. 16. Both then rallied. But while the industrials hit a record 14,164.53 on Oct. 9, the transports didn't come near a record, thus failing to confirm the DJIA's strength. This set up the potential for a classic DOW Theory bear-market signal."

"That signal would come if both averages--and I emphasize both--slip below their August 16 lows. The Transports did dip under their low last week, ending at 4603.92 ..."

MrKen notes that on 11/21 the Industrials closed at 12,799.04, below even the low ebb of trading during the summer's credit crisis--completing the Bear Market signal.

However, before any of my gentle readers rush to sell the market short, they should be aware that many short-term technical indicators are flashing strong 'BUY' signals-- such as insider trading activity. Again, according to Barron's Michael Santoli ('What to Ask Mr. Market'-11/26), for the week of Nov. 19, the ratio of insider selling to buying was down to four, deep in buy signal territory and at a level last seen the week of Aug. 23.

And there is dissent from certain quarters. UBS strategists and others have put forth the Baltic Dry index (a measure of spot cargo demand) as the 21st century transport average. It remains strong.

Disclaimer: MrKen is NOT a registered Investment Advisor & NONE of the above should be taken as investment advice. It is the writer's opinion ONLY, except where specific cites are given. MrKen has no market positions at the time of this post.

To view this week's Barron's for free, follow this link: http://online.barrons.com/public/main?refresh=on