May 13, 2008 8:24PM

China, Markets, and Change

By Cheryl Casone

You really have to adapt when it comes to investing. We’ve been covering this horrific situation in China. There you are, standing in your home, with your family about to sit down together, and in an instant it is gone. I’ve covered several natural disasters in my reporting career, and it always impresses me once I get there, how strong people are. You never know your worth until you are tested.

We’ve been tested here haven’t we? But, you go out and talk to people, or at least I do, on planes, parties, on the streets, and in the studio. And they have that common thread, and it seems to be the same thing I see when people are dealt something, a tough blow: “We’ll get by, we’ll recover.”

I am not comparing China to our markets, they are different, and I hope the UN can get better access to Burma in the next few days, but it teaches us a lesson how strong investors can take the good with the bad. We are going to have a flat trading range through the summer. The volume isn’t great, but at the same time, I keep talking to Wall Street sources and friends who tell me they plan to spend a large portion of their time in the Hamptons. What does that mean? They are okay to walk away from their desks. Last summer, it was all hands on deck, and vacations were cancelled (except for Jimmy Cayne, that maverick of bridge that he is.)

Finally, we moved time slots, from 10am Eastern to Noon. Let me know what you guys think about the new show. It is different, very different, but starting a new network is about taking chances, and I think I just jumped off a cliff!