The Closing Bell

The anticipation was electric. A surge was building; the pressure was growing as the opening bell approached. Suddenly with a resounding clang the market took off like a rocket, rising more than 3% in minutes. And in short order the market regained loses incurred on Friday due to still inexplicable market glitches. Market leaders and regulators were in the process of putting measures in place to avoid such hazards in the future.

Meanwhile, across the pond, this rebound was also being driven by global confidence. The European market countries raised a trillion dollars to backstop Greece, whose economy teetered near default. Portugal, Spain and Italy also were hanging on by a thin margin, and this fund would if needed keep them above water.

Near the end of the day the Dow Jones Industrial average was up more than 4% and the mood on the floor was surreal. I know because I arrived with a team from the Mental Health Association of New York City, where I am a chairman of the board. I was joined with representatives of C.B. Richard Ellis, a powerful commercial real estate company based in New York. CBRE had made a generous donation to the MHA-NYC for its annual gala, which was being held at the NYSE that evening.

The rooms of the NYSE are all ornate, grand and large. The floor is massive, filled with cubbyholes and monitors. I saw mostly men dressed in blue trading jackets and wearing badges often on their toes poised to leap into action. The pace is intense, as traders are either on the phone, scanning terminals or viewing monitors. There is no rest here.

We crossed the floor and ascended a rear stairway up one flight and turned to our right and walked through a worn wooden door. Suddenly we emerged onto a narrow balcony overlooking the floor where scanned the traders and MHA-NYC staff members below. Here's the drill. We arrived at our position at 3:57, or three minutes to closing. One of our party of five was to ring the bell and the other was to pound the gavel. There were five of us crammed onto the small balcony, which was made smaller by the console housing buttons and the gavel.

At 3:59:20 we were instructed to start clapping, and our audience below joined in. At 3:59:45 we were instructed to press the button that rang the bell. As the clanging continued, at 4:00:00 we were instructed to pound the gavel closing the exchange. We lingered for a moment more on our perch and then descended. It was a pretty exciting day because the Dow Jones Industrial average closed up more than 400 points! And MHA-NYC not only had a wonderful and financially successful gala.


Take a look: http://www.nyse.com/events/1273140790129.html

The End of a Generation

On Wednesday, Edgar Ursin Peyronnin died at the age of 91 near Los Angeles, California. His death marks the end of a generation.

Joseph Felix Peyronnin and his wife Dabie, my grandfather and grandmother, lived in New Orleans and had seven children; three boys and four girls. Mary, Clare, Elma, Joseph, Leo, Edgar and Nona were all very special! Grandfather Peyronnin, who was an attorney, died suddenly in the early 1920s. The family had to give up their nice house for a succession of smaller homes, including one of those very narrow "shotgun" houses.

Grandmother raised the children by herself and most of them had to do some work to help pay the bills. I remember my father telling me that he began working when he was 11 years old. As the country slipped into a recession life became more difficult. The eldest daughter, Mary, took on a larger role managing her siblings and working. Both my dad and Uncle Leo worked on the construction of the Huey P. Long Bridge, which crosses the Mississippi River close to New Orleans, and was opened in 1935.

Over time the children went their separate ways. Two sisters remained in New Orleans; Clare married Roland Brierre and Nona, a career teacher, never married. Mary moved with her husband David Barrow to the Chicago area; and after World War II my dad settled there as well with his new wife Dorothy. Elma and her husband moved to Louisville. Leo and his wife Charlotte settled in Evansville where he began the Peyronnin Construction company. And Edgar ended up in the Los Angeles area, where he lived with his family for more than 50 years. His second wife and he raised two beautiful girls in their beloved Ojai.

Over the years I visited my aunts and uncles and noticed striking physical similarities and personal traits. These traits included: intelligence, great inner strength, integrity, a tremendous work ethic, extreme stubbornness and the need for control. They were doers, achievers and builders. If they set their sites on something they made it happen.

Uncle Edgar's death has caused me to reflect on his generation. These survivors of personal tragedy, the Great Depression and World War II. Each of them had to overcome many obstacles in their life. They scraped, sacrificed and shouldered a lot of responsibility as they were robbed of their childhood, forced by tragedy to grow up young. Yet they were energetic, for the most part optimistic and very positive about each day.

Edgar's death closes a chapter for me. But while we will never see a generation like this one again, we can carry their spirit with us every day.

In The Beginning

I have decided to enter my opinions to the countless millions already on blogs each day around the world. Stay tuned!

I will write something that is on my mind.  It may be timely, it may be important, but it is more likely to be personal and parochial.  It may be funny, it may be profound, but I promise it will always be something that is meaningful to me.

That's why I call the blog "joepeyronnin."

Ciao