"It's not often that you will hear a goat bleating for no apparent reason, and if you do, it most often signals that something is wrong. Act immediately!"

I took those 2 sentences directly from GoatWorld.com, and if you trade financial stocks, they're stone-carved keepers. There are certain resources I always keep on hand. I can't disclose them for competitive purposes, but you can bet, for reasons that will soon become clearer, Goat World.com is one of them.

The song of the goat. Most Americans have never felt it, and make no mistake: It's not so much a sound as a feeling - the stomach-twisting churn of the bleating goat. So naturally, they have no idea what to do when it arrives. These people do not trade financial stocks, however, and so they're on their own. I cannot help them.

The Ancient Greeks knew, and feared, the song of the goat. And they had the good sense to capitalize on that knowledge and fear by creating an entire industry around it, one that would make Hollywood's vilest cretins and debauchers scream in horror and moral outrage. I'm talking about Dionysian satyrs, half-man, half-goat mutants, engaged in frenzied orgiastic rituals, the very foundation of which the Greeks turned into theatrical spectacles they could sell tickets to; tragôidiâ, tragedy; translated literally, the song of the goat.

For traders, the tragic spectacle du jour is in the financials. Year-to-date, the KBW Bank Index (BKX) has plunged 30% - a train wreck. But the important thing to understand about trains is this: Despite being bound by rails and lateral immobility, they're an important mode of transportation for hoboes.

Since July 15, the BKX is up nearly 30%. In the business, they call that kind of move a hobo's road stake, just enticing enough to keep you out of the bone orchard, but not enough to elevate you back to the main drag.  CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE...