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Mathematics is the soul of science as the vowels are the souls of Hebrew letters. The theoretical models of math are similar to the angelic models of our physical world. There are angels representing each nation, each star in the sky, each blade of grass. Mathematical principles of engineering are edifices in the world of Yetzirah; they are tools in the world of Asiyah. We should know that G-d provides us with ideas. He sends them on the ‘wings of angels’ to help us build the world around.

There was an episode of ‘Ed’, a lawyer/bowling alley series, where Danny Davido, a comedian, plays a con-artist. He sends out letters to people predicting which baseball team is going to win a particular game. An unfortunate victim who received five letters with correct predictions decides to place a bet with the con-artist’s bookie on the sixth prediction. Needless to say he loses his money. Why, would the trend fail at this point? Danny explains to his lawyer that he sends out 1000 letters with his first recommendation, then 400 letter follow-ups where he was successful, than 100 letter follow-ups, etc. The point is there will be a few people who will get letters where he was right five times in a row.

The point of this story is that one should be very careful about investing on a trend. For example, in mutual fund investing, there may be a handful of funds that seem to beat the averages, but this may be simply because of chance. Human beings have mental functions that are good at picking out trends. When we were hunters and scavengers, this helped us return to good places to find food or water. Information was limited and recognizing a trend was more likely to have reason. Today with massive communication systems, trends of a few are more like the con-artist scheme above. Our minds, has vshalom, overlook that one investment’s success is often by chance because we picked it out of a thousand failures. This is related to the illness of gambling.

James Dines: "Stocks: The month of May used to be an inauspicious month for new buying, but it has been improving. Despite many years of rising markets, May has seen the DJI decline in 22 of the last 40 years, 55% of the time, or has proven to be the prelude to significant declines in Junes or Julys - that pave the way for the traditional "Summer Rally." Since 1965, the period 1 May to 30 Jun has been a loser 60% of the time (24 out of 40 years.) But, 13 of the 16 exceptions (81%) occurred in the last 22 years, so the period has been getting less bearish. May is the beginning month for the worst six months (1 May - 31 Oct) of the year, a bullish factor for golds since they tend to move opposite the market. The statistics were based on the Dow's average percentage change for the six-month periods from 1950-2003 as applied to an arbitrary investment portfolio of $10,000. Specifically, when compounded annually starting in 1950, buying in May and selling by Oct, a $10,000 investment was reduced to $9,682 by 2003, reflecting a loss of $318. On the other hand, buying in Nov and selling by Apr resulted in an appreciated value of $492,060, reflecting a $482,060 profit by 2003.
Memorial Week Rally: Investors who nonetheless insist on buying might as well do so before the start of Memorial Day weekend, May 23 to May 27 this year. The DJI rose during that week 12 years in a row (from 1984-1995) - also 1999, 2000, 2003, and 2004. Downers during the Memorial Day holiday include 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2002. All told, the "memorial week rally" has come true 76% (16 of 21) of the time in the last 21 years.

The business cycle remains the most significant guide to investing. During the market peak, (interest rates climbing), money market or drug/medical companies. During the contraction (interest rates have stopped going up), average into the market in dividend instruments. During the trough, (interest rates have started declining), invest in growth stocks, oil, copper, and REITs. During the expansion, (interest rates are flat or have started rising), invest in growth companies.

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