The Roman guy that sounded the early alarms on the fall of the empire was derided, too, so we're careful not to get too wrapped up in foreseeing anything about the world in general. Foretelling the market is just not that much of a value-driver for an individual's portfolio. The former is based on stuff that highly paid Ph.D.s on Wall Street can't even get right on a consistent basis. The latter is based on what reasonably intelligent and diligent people can get right. To elucidate that a bit, if you're going to spend all your time worrying about the market and not individual companies now, you're likely to repeat that behavior when other macro events beyond your control dominate the headlines while great franchises are selling at ridiculously cheap prices.
Practice stands a great chance of permanence in investing, as well.
Website developer and operator Telescan Inc. Shares of several Latin and South American companies rose this morning, perhaps as bargain hunters went shopping amidst the rubble following this week's financial problems in Brazil . The company blamed weakness in its global consulting organization and said it is reorganizing the division. At least two brokerages downgraded the stock this morning. Revenue is seen meeting or beating expectations but gross margins were hurt by, among other things, increased losses at its Internet division.