Commentary: Summer Doldrums

As we enter the second half of the year, the stock market is struggling to find a good reason to go up...or down. The May sell-off wiped out all of the gains that had been accumulated in April and the market failed to revive in June, despite a brief rally. It now appears that second-quarter earnings reports will be the next test of whether trading will be dominated by the bulls or the bears. However that turns out, we're likely to see more uncertainty rather then less for several months. But that should give long-term investors an edge, since they typically accumulate shares on a regular basis. Dollar-cost averaging is ideal for markets like this one, and summertime is no time to be lazy when on comes to maintaining one's discipline.

Having the resolve to keep in investing is difficult in the face of the losses suffered by many over the last decade. It's important to remember that those losses were often magnified by the emotional reactions of unwary speculators and anyone else who sold stock in response to headlines and... Read More