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TSC Pays Tribute to Bill Meehan |
Tony Dwyer's Tribute |
Todd Harrison's Tribute |
Justin Lahart's Tribute |
James Cramer's Tribute |
Brian Reynolds' Tribute |
Howard Simons' Tribute |
A Look Back at Some of Bill Meehan's Columns |
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I met Bill Meehan only once, at a meeting of the Market Technicians Association in May 2001. Both of us had columns alternating in the same space on
TheStreetPros site, which gave us an instant point of conversation.
Professor Andrew Lo of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology gave one of the more interesting addresses at the conference. Lo demonstrated, as much as one can, that some of the more common technical indicators and chart patterns do have a predictive capacity.
Bill Meehan's column on the following Monday,
That Voodoo That We Do, cited Lo's work as evidence of technical analysis's contribution to the world of finance. This, to me, said it all: I'm proud of who I am and what I do. What more can any of us hope to believe when we awaken each day?
Readers of Bill Meehan -- and I was one; he was an analyst's analyst -- will recognize the reference to his signature description of the market as the Street of Dreams. This was never said in a braying or condescending way, nor did he ever gloat over his very many good calls on the market, higher as well as lower, during the past year.
Bill, it's all a Street of Dreams. The minute we stop dreaming, the minute we stop believing, the minute we stop trying, is the minute this great country, this last best hope of humankind on earth, stops being America. There are flags flying for you today. You made a difference in my life and the lives of others. We shared some space once, and if I'm lucky, we'll do it again someday.