The numbers relieved some fear of the Fed tightening interest rates. For how long, I don't know. But for the time being they have.

Everybody thinks we're at the top of interest rates. The rates have peaked and the rate rise is over. There's lower rates to come and the stocks you want to own are the ones that do well in the lower rate environment.

Authoritarian political ideologies have a vested interest in promoting fear, a sense of the imminence of takeover by aliens --and real diseases are useful material.

My interest in the potency of fear comes from my Taiwanese childhood in which fear of ghosts was used to shape my values.

Consider the public. Never fear it nor despise it. Coax it, charm it, interest it, stimulate it, shock it now and then if you must, make it laugh, make it cry, but above all never, never, never bore the living hell out of it.

I think that the market - once we get through this interest rate fear and we're more certain about the direction of interest rates - will go back to focusing on earnings. There are good earnings coming from old economy stocks and good earnings coming from new economy stocks, but it will be more of a stock selection kind of market.