The Making of a Market Guru: Forbes Presents 25 Years of Ken Fisher

Chapter 23. 2006: Celebrity Market Indicators

"Markets do really hate political change. It's not that Republicans are good for stocks and Democrats bad. After all, didn't stocks do well in the 1960s and the 1990s, when Democrats had the White House, Congress or both? And haven't stocks disappointed during the current all-Republican era? What worries investors is simply any change in control — always."

—"The November Surprise," September 18, 2006

"I also know I always may be wrong. CXOAdvisory.com, a site (owned by market research firm CXO Advisory Group LLC) that ranks 33 public prognosticators, puts me at the top with a 69% accuracy since 2000 on 58 market-timing calls. That means I've been wrong 31% of the time. So I always plan to own some stocks that will do well if what I expect to happen doesn't happen."

—"The Rangel Factor," November 13, 2006

Two-thousand-six was a difficult year ... for celebrities. That was good news to Ken. It's not that Ken has any ill will toward the likes of Paul McCartney (separated from Heather Mills in 2006), Whitney Houston (filed for divorce from Bobby Brown), Paris Hilton (arrested for DUI), Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin (killed by a stingray), or Wesley Snipes (indicted on tax fraud charges). But the fact these were the stories making endless headlines in 2006 was a bullish sign for investors. "Today we have the Internet to bombard us with more news than ever. Still, it is bullish that the most exciting headlines have to do with Angelina Jolie's ...