Dow Surges Nearly 400 Points Even As Turkey Crisis Deepens

Apparently, those mystery buyers who emerged Wednesday after the Dow was down 360 points were not quite finished with their stock buying spree. On Thursday, blue chips were all the rage, with the Dow soaring nearly 400 points on the day, it's best one-day performance since a 428-point advance on April 10.

So, that's more than 750 points in less than two days. The message is clear: buy stocks. Buy stocks with dividends. Disregard the price you are paying.

Obviously, something is afoot, though it seems that these recent buys are wrong-footed, at the least.

Friday will open lower, though there's no telling where stocks will go after that. Turkey's currency crisis is not going to improve in a day or two, or even in a few weeks or months. The economy of the crossroads nation is going to be a basket case for years. The same is true of Argentina, which is suffering through another crisis, something that occurs on a regular basis in South America. Venezuela's economy is dead, Brazil is devolving into widespread chaos, and the rest of the so-called EM (Emerging Market) economies are being clubbed to death by a strong US dollar.

Now, perhaps the rest of the world suffering is good for the advanced nations such as the US and in Europe, but that should be viewed as a short-sighted point of view in the long run.

Eventually, between their currencies deteriorating and President Trump piling on tariffs and sanctions, most of the world's emerging market nations will not be very emergent at all. Rather, their economies will suffer, their populations will grow increasingly restive, and trade with them will decline.

The silver lining for the United States is that such conditions should drive more domestic innovation and jobs. Eventually, the smaller nations will adjust to the new normal and maybe the US will muddle through. However, this is not the kind of environment that necessitates massive investment in well-entrenched industries.

Or, maybe it is. Maybe these dip-buying professional traders really do know it all.

Dow Jones Industrial Average August Scorecard:

Date	Close	Gain/Loss	Cum. G/L
8/1/18	25,333.82	-81.37	-81.37
8/2/18	25,326.16	-7.66	-89.03
8/3/18	25,462.58	+136.42	+55.05
8/6/18	25,502.18	+39.60	+94.65
8/7/18	25,628.91	+126.73	+221.38
8/8/18	25,583.75	-45.16	+176.22
8/9/18	25,509.23	-74.52	+101.70
8/10/18	25,313.14	-196.09	-94.39
8/13/18	25,187.70	-125.44	-219.83
8/14/18	25,299.92	+112.22	-107.61
8/15/18	25,162.41	-137.51	-245.12
8/16/18	25,558.73	+396.32	+151.20

At the Close, Thursday, August 16, 2017:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 25,558.73, +396.32 (+1.58%)
NASDAQ: 7,806.52, +32.41 (+0.42%)
S&P 500: 2,840.69, +22.32 (+0.79%)
NYSE Composite: 12,841.28, +118.19 (+0.93%)