Too Hot in the Kitchen?

When you want an egg sandwich after one of those vicious nighttime bouts with New York, you go to the Holland Diner outside the Holland Tunnel, because its griddle is so hot that the eggs get cooked the moment they hit the metal.

That's this stock market. The heat this thing generates feels just like that grill. And if you don't know how to use it, you are going to get fried faster than three overeasy.

I took some things off the table at the opening because even I, a seasoned grill man, fear getting singed here. I want things to cool off. If they don't, then I will miss some action. But I have enough riding on the grill to make me plenty happy if it gets hotter.

I wouldn't feel this way if everything were moving up in unison. But you've got whole segments of this market rolling over. I know that the competition from Net stocks is so intense that money managers are throwing away their Merck (MRK Quote) to get in. That, too, scares me. I like good advance-declines, and I would like to have a day where the bonds don't get their heads handed to them.

No, this is not a get-out call. It is just more of the random musings I tacked on to my Net-as-Beethoven piece. As a footnote, I just told Jeff Berkowitz, my partner, that I sure as heck wish I were born after 1973. I would probably be buying right now instead of selling!!!