Happy Year of the Fire Monkey!

So long, Year of the Wood Sheep!  It's now the Year of the Fire Monkey!  The Daily Telegraph explains in Happy Chinese New Year 2016! Everything you need to know about the Year of the Monkey.

The new year, also known as the Spring Festival, is marked by the lunisolar Chinese calendar, so the date changes from year to year.

The festivities usually start the day before the New Year and continue until the Lantern Festival, the 15th day of the new year.

Each Chinese New Year is characterised by one of 12 animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac. The Chinese zodiac is divided into 12 blocks (or houses) just like its western counterpart, but with the major difference being that each house has a time-length of one year instead of one month.

This year it's the Year of the Monkey, the ninth animal in the cycle. The next Year of the Monkey will be in 2028.

Click on through for the rest of the article, which describes the traits associated with people born under the sign of the monkey.  That's astrology, which I consider to be "bunk, but it's fun bunk" and "fun nonsense that I'm presenting for entertainment purposes only."  However, there's one prediction I'd like to pass along from NBC News' What Feng Shui Experts Predict for Year of the Monkey:

For the superstitious in China, the astrological divinations of a local feng shui master can be important guidance in making decisions for the coming year. For many others, the annual predictions are just for fun.

Unfortunately for anyone seeking reassurance about the worldwide economic turmoil, Chen does not have any encouraging words.

"In 2016 we will see a big slide in the world economy," he warns. "The global economic situation will be terrible and lots of companies will be bankrupted."

I don't need astrology to tell people that.

Mike Alexander posted his most recent update last June: 10000 point decline in the Dow in the cards over the next three years.  At the time, the DJIA had just hit a record close of 18,312.39 on May 19, 2015.  Since then, the market has already passed the 10% drop for a correction.  If it goes down another 10% to below 14,650, that will signal a bear market, which means we are on track for another recession within a year.  After that, if Mike is right, it's down to the 8,000s by the end of 2018.  The recession beginning late this year or early next looks like it will arrive right on schedule.

Enough gloom.  Time to wish my readers a Happy Lunar New Year, with text that I've recycled many times over.

Mandarin: Gong Xi Fa Cai/Xin Nian Kuai Le

Cantonese: Kung Hei Fat Choi

Hokkien (Fujian/Taiwanese): Kiong Hee Huat Tsai/Sin Ni khòai lok

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Simplified Chinese: 恭喜发财 新年快乐

Traditional Chinese: 恭喜發財 新年快樂

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