Whether or not his intentions are to help those of us suffering from "NASDAQ agony", Mr. Greenspan and the Fed kind of shocked the investment community with the decision to cut interest rates by 1/2-a-percent. This hit me out of nowhere this morning. Here everyone was waiting for mid-May to see if the FOMC would cut rates and out of the blue WHAM! here ya go! Is anyone else ecstatic about this? Or does anyone else say "they're just making amends for f*#(!ing up in the first place" by jacking interest rates up too high too quickly? ... I have no idea why I started this thread other than the fact that I'm giddy -- GO NASDAQ! ------------------ Yugo grills, Yugo mills, Check out the oil my Yugo spills...
I don't know one way or the other. But the Dow closed up 399 today! People around here at Morgan are quite pleased! ------------------ Everything you do, effects everything that is.
Bah ... more BS. Fixing the numbers to make the economy better. Our economy is over inflated! ------------------ Im too drunk to walk ... Im driving home!
The economy isn't over-inflated, necessarily... the stock market is . All this concern about the stock market masks the real wealth creation that has been taken place. Living standards have gone up considerably the past few years (relatively speaking). ------------------ I would believe only in a God who could dance. - Friedrich Nietzsche Boston College - NCAA Hockey National Champions 2001
I don't know much about the economy but my father-in-law is has his masters in finance and is so good that he has outdone many of the "experts" when it comes to predicitions and understanding complex tax laws. He doesn't believe that the stock market is overvalued. He and I spoke briefly about it once and he agreed with me that the reason the stock market has gone so crazy is because of the large increase in businesses going public and people's ability to control their own portfolios. For years, no one messed with their 401K's or retirement plans. Today, people day trade and manage their own portfolios making for a much more active and volitile market. Personally, I just think of it as a long-term thing. I'm not interested in, nor do I have the money for, making money in the market in the short term. ------------------ And then, depression set in...
Jeff, Thats why the best thing to do (and what I do) is just pick the oldest and most steady companies to drop into your 401K or portfolio. Just pick companies that have nothing but long term growth. Pick 'em, and forget about 'em, and let your money grow. It's not like I don't watch them, but I don't go crazy and worry. Strangely enough, in a lot of my life, I'm very (dare I say it?) liberal. But for some reason when it comes to finances, I'm pretty (dare I say it?) conservative. I've always looked long term and not for the quick buck. Haven nailed it. "The economy isn't over-inflated, necessarily... the stock market is" ------------------ Everything you do, effects everything that is. [This message has been edited by mc mark (edited April 18, 2001).]
There is a book out called "Ordinary People, Extrordinary Wealth" about people who made small fortunes on VERY small incomes using their stocks. The author found that most people who have wealth spend fewer than 3 hours per MONTH on their finances! Most don't even open their monthly financial statements!!! I like that plan, myself. ------------------ And then, depression set in...
ABSOFREAKINLUTELY!!! Easy access to online trading combined with the dot-com boom sent this market into hysteria and now every freaking breath taken by every so-called "expert" seems to trigger something. I think in the long-run (20-30 years ) everything will be juuuuust peachy. I once worked with a guy who had never traded a stock in his life (this was about 2 years ago). He opened up a Datek account. I told him I had just bought two stocks (CDTS and SCON). One had tripled in one day and the other had doubled. The next day he asked me what those companies did. I told him they made filters for towers used in cellular transmissions. I said "why, are you interested in buying them?" He said, "oh no... I already bought some of their stock, I just wanted to know what they did" and started laughing. He didn't think it was quite as funny as the stocks plummeted from around $100/share down to about $19 and I think recently in single digits. He held on through all this saying "it'll go back up". Wow. I was reading a FORTUNE or FORBES article a few months ago detailing how people lost millions in the latest correction. People with $9 million in savings down to $1,000,000. People that thought they would retire in their early 50's now having to continue working and probably still won't have enough money to retire comfortably. It's tragic. This is a case of empowering the public and watching them destroy themselves. ------------------ Yugo grills, Yugo mills, Check out the oil my Yugo spills...
That's a good book from every review I've seen of it. Also if anyone's interested, on the opposite end of the spectrum is another book, The Millionaire Next Door. They show how people that make a lot of money tend to flaunt it and end up being broke. Doctors that make $250k or more a year that barely have $20-$30k in savings. Another article I read in FORTUNE about a year ago showed how people that earned less than $50k/year were millionaires. It's not that difficult. It's one of the things I'm most proud of my parents for -- they don't make tons of money, yet save so much, and now they're well-off. ------------------ Yugo grills, Yugo mills, Check out the oil my Yugo spills...
You better believe it!! I've been praying for a day like this ever since the cut in March, when Greenspan cut 50% and not the 75% the market needed, or wanted. Actually, 50% was always the reasonable and expected target-- but when a couple of overoptimistic bulls the previous week got word out about a possible 75% cut, I guess it got the market disappointed about not giving the larger cut. Right after he cut just 50 though, I thought right then that we may have a day in 3-4 weeks where he does a "surprise cut" like the beginning of January where the Nasdaq went up 300 or so. Didn't get 300, but I'll take 156, wouldn't you DOD? Especially considering the big upturn since Thursday two weeks ago... our money has almost doubled in these past two weeks. (The stock I have most in the portfolio, Ciena, has gone from 34 up to 61) Still not up to the 65 we got it for though. But, a gain of almost 100% in two weeks is pretty damn solid. Originally we were considering selling if we got the big rate cut day... but with the heavy volume, etc. I really think the bottom has been reached and we may see a solid rally the next few weeks. (About time) And hopefully, with strong earnings from IBM and Apple, the techs will do good tomorrow. (that's practically all I concern myself with, lol... I still have a good share of quality techs, but I also have some of the crap ones you may have seen tank the last few months... (QXLC, Infospace, Xceed, etc.) GO NASDAQ!! ------------------ President of the Mo Taylor, Jason Collier, and draft Richard Jefferson fan club! Draftsource.net-- the premier source for draft info. Profiles, rankings, mock drafts, and more! ClutchTown.com [This message has been edited by The Cat (edited April 18, 2001).]
I don't care about massive gains, just steady growth. I had my fun with massive gains about 1-2 years ago and it was fun. Now, a steady upward trend would be sweet for the next oooooh 30 years. I bought a bunch of AMD, AAPL, and ORCL a couple of weeks ago and I'm in those for the long-haul. I'm now debating buying NT, CSCO, and maybe even JDSU aaaaaand.... QQQ (go Nasdaq 100!). ------------------ Yugo grills, Yugo mills, Check out the oil my Yugo spills... [This message has been edited by Dr of Dunk (edited April 18, 2001).]
What do you think about AMD over the next couple of weeks? Or even long-term? I bought the stock at 30 this afternoon (I know high, but expect and hope for a big pop tomorrow in it after beating earnings by four cents. If there's a run up in the stock tomorrow to say 33, you think I should sell it for a little profit (my original plan) and buy it back after a little profit taking, or hold onto it for a while? What made you buy it? ------------------ President of the Mo Taylor, Jason Collier, and draft Richard Jefferson fan club! Draftsource.net-- the premier source for draft info. Profiles, rankings, mock drafts, and more! ClutchTown.com
I don't think about companies such as ORCL, AMD, CSCO, etc. over a period of weeks. I try to look at them over several months or years. So I can't comment on it going to $33 because I'm hoping it goes to $100. AMD is the only threat to Intel's monopoly (which is nowhere as strong as it once was) on the desktop. AMD's current budget chip, the Duron, is head and shoulders above Intel's Celeron. Their Thunderbird chip is also technically (in most cases) a superior chip to Intel's P4. This combined with the fact that AMD's chips are cheaper-priced gives them an advantage. Their biggest disadvantage is marketing. Most people still trust the Intel name and also equate "megahertz" to "performance". This hasn't really been true since the days of the 486 chips and maybe the initial batch of Pentiums. A 1.2 GHz AMD chip can match (and at times exceed) the performance of a 1.4 GHz P4, but all people see is that 1.4 > 1.2, so it must be faster. Their P/E ratio was under 8 today which is AWESOME in my opinion. The one thing that will stop the stock from performing well is the fact that the slowdown in the economy also translates to less being spent by corporations on semi-conductor related purchases. We saw some of that today, where AMD beat earnings expectations, but their profits fell. Despite this I think they will continue to take market share away from Intel. I no longer buy Intel CPU's because I don't enjoy paying more for less product. ... The Doctah's Disclosure : I own shares in AMD ------------------ Yugo grills, Yugo mills, Check out the oil my Yugo spills...
What do you think of Tyco at the moment? Had good earnings annoucement yesterday yet still seems to be undervalued a bit. ------------------ Haha.. you fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is: Never get involved in a land war in Asia. Only slightly less well know is this: Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!
Not that I am interested in buying Amazon, but is Bezos whistling past the graveyard when analysts question him about his company's future and he gives evasive answers? Mango ------------------ Get it right or just don't do it! Resistance is futile....you will be assimilated.
Mango, Probably right with that. I became suspicious for that same reason... he always dodged many of the tougher questions from analysts the times I saw him on TV. Also, if you watch CNBC in the mornings, you'll see a lot of people taking little shots and jabs at him from time to time when talking about Amazon (of course when he's not there). We did own it, but got out last November. By the way, also bumping this up after another 102 point gain... ------------------ President of the Mo Taylor, Jason Collier, and draft Richard Jefferson fan club! Draftsource.net-- the premier source for draft info. Profiles, rankings, mock drafts, and more! ClutchTown.com
Give the man a break! Jeff Bezos has to dodge specific questions. How many different ways is he supposed to come up with to say "we're going to lose money, but there's hope in the future!" I used to own AMZN, too, but that was about 2 years ago. I gave it up right before the market slide started. Wish I had done the same with NT. That's ok... long term... long term... long term... I hope this rally is real. And the FOMC meets again in mid-May (15th, I believe), so hopefully they won't nix all the good they're doing now. Well, good for me, anyway! ------------------ Yugo grills, Yugo mills, Check out the oil my Yugo spills...
But when is the question in regards to profits at Amazon. I think the fancy phrase is burn rate for the loss of money (investment capital). If a cautious analyst/investor has doubts and Bezos comes across with assurances to the contrary (however vague), then is Bezos liable if Amazon hits the wall as far as cash/operating funds within the next year? Mango ------------------ Get it right or just don't do it! Resistance is futile....you will be assimilated.
Hey, I work for them! Wish I could give you some kind of advice or inside info that would help for the stock purchasing... All I know is that even after the massive layoffs a while back, Nortel is still planning on laying about 5000 more people off between now and May... and even though I am only a coop, I might be one of them. ------------------ President of the Anal Retentive School for Jerks Hey, I wanted to be president of something, and I swear everyone took every other presidential position already.
