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I’VE just seen a movie called The Craft in which teenaged California girls pay a terrible price for casting evil spells. I couldn’t help thinking of portfolio managers, many of whom are educated to about the level of teenaged California girls, and who may also pay a terrible – price as their wishes are answered. In The-Craft, the girls wish ill on their stepparents and high-school classmates, who lose their lives, or, worse, their hair and popularity through the magic of witchcraft. In The Economy, the portfolio managers wish their fellow citizens would lose their jobs through the magic of monetary policy. The girls want money, dates, and beauty, the managers want year-end bonuses.

Part of the problem the Craft girls have is that their understanding of witchcraft is pretty superficial. The same could be said about the managers and monetary policy. Back in the Seventies and early Eighties, we used to await the weekly M-l or M-2 numbers with awe and foreboding. My then-wife, who traded in the Eurobond market at the time, actually went out of her way to get invitations to eat in the Fed cafeteria. She came back physically ill from the food and the contemplation of some of the Fedlings’ table manners, but the chatter about money supply was worth it.

JD

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John Dizard

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I’VE just seen a movie called The Craft in which teenaged California girls pay a terrible price for casting evil spells. I couldn’t help thinking of portfolio managers, many of whom are educated to about the level of teenaged California girls, and who may also pay a terrible – price as their wishes are answered. In The-Craft, the girls wish ill on their stepparents and high-school classmates, who lose their lives, or, worse, their hair and popularity through the magic of witchcraft. In The Economy, the portfolio managers wish their fellow citizens would lose their jobs through the magic of monetary policy. The girls want money, dates, and beauty, the managers want year-end bonuses.

Part of the problem the Craft girls have is that their understanding of witchcraft is pretty superficial. The same could be said about the managers and monetary policy. Back in the Seventies and early Eighties, we used to await the weekly M-l or M-2 numbers with awe and foreboding. My then-wife, who traded in the Eurobond market at the time, actually went out of her way to get invitations to eat in the Fed cafeteria. She came back physically ill from the food and the contemplation of some of the Fedlings’ table manners, but the chatter about money supply was worth it.