No Santa Claus Rally for Wall Street

It's been slow, but to be honest I think people are over the stock market this year. They want to focus on what matters - their family, keeping their homes safe, and building security. The traditional "Santa Claus" rally appears to have been missed again, making 2007 and 2008 two of the only times in history that has happened. Nevertheless, it's fine. I can tell you that even I - who normally spends every hour reading financial reports and looking for ways to grow our businesses - have turned my attention to more domestic issues the past few weeks. I've also been working until the wee hours of the morning as one of my companies prepares to launch its biggest e-commerce site yet.

What does encourage me a great deal is that nearly every single one of my close friends has called or stopped by my office to ask my thoughts on how they should begin structuring a portfolio. In the midst of the bloodiest crash in decades, they are taking money out of their own pockets and building equity portfolios. Being in the Midwest, I think we're a great deal isolated from many of the travails of our East and West coast brethren. It looks like our businesses are still going to be up double digits, for which I thank God. That's allowed us to take advantage of falling prices. With mortgage rates at 4.9% and dividend yields on blue chip stocks at between 8% and 9%, it's a no-brainer that the odds are favorable for stocks over the next decade.