2008 reset button - rebooting enthusiasm

"There's a current of enthusiasm in the economy," a colleague announced today. "It's got some real ooomph. No more 2008, no more hand-wringing. That's a distant memory."

When I asked him where we see this, he noted some of the more positive statistics one can mine from the resilience of the stock market, from new construction, and other segments.

But it was also clear my colleague -- our CIO, Damon Vickers -- was feeling, above all, the animal spirits of the world around him, especially from a weekend trip to the malls.

"Long lines at Costco (COST). Two-fisted shopping -- people walking with three or four bags in their hands, and walking way out into the parking lot, because it was the only place they could get a spot. Eight-year-old girls, ten-year-old girls, buying several items at Lululemon (LULU)."

Is everything in the economy healed up and hunkie dorie? Of course not. There's still the real estate overhang. There might yet be (ulp) a locked-out non-season for professional football. The U.S. is, as I heard someone put it recently, "involved in, like, 10 wars," counting the "domestic war on terror," the "war on drugs," and the "war on ignorance."

But if you only go by the statistics, you're watching the smoke coming out the tailpipe... or, if you will, the number of shopping bags that show up in next month's recycle bins.

Sometimes, the best economists are you and me and our eyes and ears and noses.

After the Memorial Day Weekend, with summer approaching, the word is "enthusiasm." And when Damon Vickers talks about the animal spirits of the economy, it's like the old E.F. Hutton commercial -- people listen. Well, anyway, wise people do.  

Ownership disclosure: At the time this product was published or posted, Damon Vickers & Co. and Nine Points Capital Partners owned shares of Lululemon (LULU) and had no position in Costco (COST).

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