Bull and Bear tug-of-war

Readers of this blog are probably well aware of the fact that mortgage rates have basically remained in a tight sideways range since mid-January.  Followers of the stock market know that the equity markets have effectively traded sideways over that time as well.  The WSJ published this article today summarizing two opposing views of stocks from a couple heavyweights which seems to represent the polarizing opinions on Wall Street that keeps the market from having a clear direction up or down.  One of the viewpoints is from Robert Shiller who is a bear and argues that stocks are currently overvalued.  The opposite view is from his close friend Jeremy Siegel who I got to see speak in Portland a few months ago.  He argues that on a historical scale stocks look cheap right now.  What I find interesting is that effectively each uses historical data dating back to the 19th century to support their views.  In effect they are looking at the same data and drawing two completely different conclusions.

If you are a stock market fan then the article is worth a read.