Let's talk about stocks!

[Utoo]

With the markets going nuts as they are, it's a perfect time to do something I've wanted to do for a while---start an investor's thread.

Personally, I own very little. 1). PSE&G, a utility company near where I grew up in Jersey...I've had that since I was a kid. 2). Roma Savings, the local bank in my home town that had their IPO a while back and is actually doing fairly well comparatively. 3). Visa---got in around 60 a week or so after their IPO this year, and I'm currently taking a hit on it, though I expect that it'll get back up there nicely as the current mess starts to settle out a bit.

That's about all. Except for Apple----I just picked up 15 shares today (I wish I had more money to get higher volumes of the big boys, but there's not much to play with right now. Man, Google's gonna have to split a few times before I can make a dent in that one!). Apple's taken quite a hit---it started last week with rumors of Steve Jobs being in poor health (false), and has continued to drop. I've always wanted to get in, and it's now creeping into a price range that has me taking the bait. It may drop even more in the near-term, which is fine with me (I'll try and get some more..), as there aren't really too too many signs that trouble is ahead, barring Jobs' untimely demise.


From an investment standpoint, if I had more money to play with, I'd love this economic downturn. Buy low!

 

[bonoman]

I have Finning Canada stocks about 7000$ worth and 15000$ worth of Syncrude Canada stocks. Both heavily oil/gas stock. The rest is RRSPs!

 

[ntalwar]

It may be a good time to start nibbling at some shares. However, the CBOE Volatility Index (a gauge of fear in the market) is at its all time high today (it's an 18 year old index).

 

[Utoo]

That's why it's getting to be the perfect time to buy.

Stocks follow the same philosophy as most trends. You see a style of clothing that seems really cool. By the time you get the opportunity to buy it at your local Target, everybody and their brother is wearing that style. You ride out the tail-end of the coolness, but you've missed out on the maximum coolness return.

It's the same way with stocks. It's great that anxiety in the market is currently at its highest. I don't want to buy when everybody else is buying---I want to buy the day before everyone else is.

 

[Bluer White]

I'm looking at well-established companies with good, safe dividend yields...say 3+ percent. Until things stabilize a bit anyway.

A lot of it is time horizon. I won't be investing money I might need in the next 3-5 years, no matter what the market's doing.

 

[corianderstem]

I have some stock options with my employer, as part of the compensation package. Up until very early this year, they were very nice. I was able to do some nice things with them.

Yeah, sure, maybe I could have held onto them and let them grow as a more long-term investment ... although whereas last year our stock was hovering in the 30s and even 40s, earlier this year it took several giant dives, and today it's at a painful $12-something.

Good times. If and when it ever goes back up, it'll be nice, since I still have unvested options hanging out there, and it'll be nice to have a few grants where the price is low, as it'll gain in value if it goes back up.

But if it never goes back up, I haven't lost anything, since they're only options anyway.

 

[waynetravis]

I was offered to take part in Staples' employee stock plan, but I never went ahead with it because I was unsure.
My manager's do it, and now they both got new cars

Can anyone give me some advice on how it works, etc? Thanks!

 

[financeguy]

Picking shares is a mug's game, gang, concentrate on the macro picture. Big picture.

Just my opinion.

 

[ntalwar]

It's the same way with stocks. It's great that anxiety in the market is currently at its highest. I don't want to buy when everybody else is buying---I want to buy the day before everyone else is.

Definitely - those who bought Apple at $88 at 2pm were rewarded with a 10% return by 4pm. So-called "vulture investors" swoop in and bottom feed on stocks. I did some of that today with Arcelor Mittal Steel.

 

[Dreadsox]

GG has been an incredible investment that I made way back somewhere in the year 2000-2001. It has split, continued to rise and pays a monthly dividend.

Good luck.

 

[Utoo]

Picking shares is a mug's game, gang, concentrate on the macro picture. Big picture.

Just my opinion.

I'll gladly take a donation of funds so that I can buy 1,000 shares at a time. Until then, I'll have to settle for a few hundred bucks in gains now and then.

The big picture is indeed key, though. That's why I'll hold onto things like Apple for a while. Zoran (ZRAN) is another one I've been looking at for a while. They make the chips that will be in many of the digital-upconverters that will become mandatory in the US next spring. So, even though the stock is currently only rated 3 stars across the board by most analysis firms, it would make sense that it'll see a bump by early- to mid-next year. A lot of its numbers are relatively strong, and various finance personalities have been talking about it for a while, even though official analyst reports still give it a low-middle-of-the-road grade. It typically runs between $6-25, having spent most of the last several months between $6-15. It's currently at $7, so I've been eyeing it recently....

 

[melon]

Definitely - those who bought Apple at $88 at 2pm were rewarded with a 10% return by 4pm. So-called "vulture investors" swoop in and bottom feed on stocks. I did some of that today with Arcelor Mittal Steel.

It's definitely a good time these days for these kinds of investors.

 

[ntalwar]

I'll gladly take a donation of funds so that I can buy 1,000 shares at a time. Until then, I'll have to settle for a few hundred bucks in gains now and then.

Or you could go to the riskier world of stock options - leveraged rights to stock that have a strike price and expiration date. They are definitely more risky than buying shares, although they can produce higher returns.

 

[financeguy]

I think shorting the euro, shorting the GBP, shorting oil are better opportunities at present. Long gold, perhaps, but if were talking humungous scale deflation, maybe not.

I remain to be convinced stocks are at bottom.

 

[corianderstem]

I was offered to take part in Staples' employee stock plan, but I never went ahead with it because I was unsure.
My manager's do it, and now they both got new cars

Can anyone give me some advice on how it works, etc? Thanks!

Well, it depends on what kind of plan it is. Are they options? Or is it a purchase plan where you have money taken out of your paycheck and set aside to buy stocks once a quarter?

You're not in the US, right? It might be completely different over there. Your best bet is to check out whatever materials Staples has put together for you. I'm sure they have a number you could call to talk to someone about all the details and how it works.

If they don't have any of that, then I'd say Staples sucks at offering their employee benefit packages.

 

[ntalwar]

I remain to be convinced stocks are at bottom.

Agreed - I think stocks could drop another 15-20% easily.

 

[Vincent Vega]

I think shorting the euro, shorting the GBP, shorting oil are better opportunities at present. Long gold, perhaps, but if were talking humungous scale deflation, maybe not.

I remain to be convinced stocks are at bottom.

How low do you think oil is going to go?

It's sad, my holidays now will become more expensive. I hope the Euro stays above 1.32 at least.
But I was never good at making predictions.

 

[hiphop]

bottom line could be tomorrow or this week

look at the trends of the past 6 days, if this continues 30 dow jones titles would be at zero at the start of november. this is just not real, because imho the real value of GE hasn´t collapsed like the stock value.

at the moment it either makes sense to buy small quantities of many positions and sell them shortly thereafter to follow the daily trend (need to watch, control, change every second though) or to wait some more days and then have a try when everything´s at the all low down bottom.

as to gold, there won´t be enough to satisfy everyone´s security dreams but 5-10% in your portfolio probably makes sense. silver is a bit more tricky, its been up yesterday but a look at the last 5 years shows it hasn´t been performing that well.

 

[melon]

What's the opinion on Russia and emerging markets these days? They've been melting down frantically over the last month, and I have a (thankfully small) specialized emerging markets mutual fund heavily weighted towards Russia that has lost 61% YTD. Of course, the overall global emerging markets fund in the same company has lost 54% YTD, so that makes 61% not seem as inappropriate.

In other words, how much further do you think this is going to meltdown, and is it worth riding the course? I'm really not one to "buy high, sell low," but these kind of losses make me wonder if keeping the small, long term systematic purchases going are worth it.

 

[hiphop]

I do not know enough about Russia but the East European markets are going down the drain as well.. because a couple of Austrian and German businesses have invested heavily in this area, they are/ have been cutting down their investments there

also I woudn´t count on automotive

a friend of mine has lost a couple of thousands with a big Austrian Immo with most portfolio in Eastern Europe, not happy at all but the stocks are so low no one is going to sell them now, people who have not enough time to worry and change their portfolio just hope for a rise so maybe in 3 years they can sell it for the value they got it

how is America doing I hear many small property owners, families, are heavily affected

imo it was a mistake of European banks to buy the bad guaranteees of American banks, thats one pf the reasons why it hits Europe bad -

a specific investment for a company that does well and is undervalued at the moment might make sense, but the low apparently hasn´t been reached as of yet, everyone´s panicking like shit.

 

[hiphop]

The Fed though...


some people complain about the Fed


and in a way we know we´re all gonna pay this - Europeans and Americans - where does the money come from to save those banks - taxes of course


to me it just seems a few people are cashing off
like the CEOs who have to leave, for fucking this up they get 10 million $ check of bonus, nice innit, so the Fed can buy and put Liddy in, uh and the bank gets another 85 billion

and even this clusterfuck is tied to Europe because they hold insurance guarantees for other fonds...

 

[ntalwar]

Stocks hammered today, again (a 5 year low):

S&P 500 909.92 -75.02 -7.62%
Dow 8,579.19 -678.91 -7.33%

GM Shares Fall to Lowest Level Since 1950.

 

[financeguy]

Is the time of maximum opportunity almost here?

stages_6.jpg (image)


Two different views:

Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

 

[financeguy]

I think shorting the euro, shorting the GBP, shorting oil are better opportunities at present. Long gold, perhaps, but if were talking humungous scale deflation, maybe not.

I remain to be convinced stocks are at bottom.

5 out of 5

Still think euro has further to fall.

 

[MooMoo!]

I thought this thread said "Let's talk about socks!"

I got a little excited. Then re-read.

 

[financeguy]

Socks sales probably suffer in a recession.

People will re-use old pairs again and again, rather than buy new ones.

So, short socks, at least premium sock making brands, but maybe go long on discount brands?