Thoughts on the stock market at present?... In recovery?

phil_b_2

I've been watching various stocks for the last week and itching to jump in. I've thus far not found the balls to do it though.

Some stocks to watch at the moment seem to the whole green energy sector, which was rampant today. Some of the miners have improved a lot lately too and most other stocks have increased a lot since their lows last week.

Is now really the time to jump in??? Or do you think another dip is to follow this recent upward movement??

I'm going nuts figuring out what to do . I have £10k sat in my share dealing account taunting me.

ExBanker_2

There will be lots more dips below 4000 on the ftse 100. Very volatile at the moment.

StevieJ

ExBanker wrote: »

There will be lots more dips below 4000 on the ftse 100. Very volatile at the moment.

Maybe, Maybe not.

itsmickdundee

ExBanker wrote: »

There will be lots more dips below 4000 on the ftse 100. Very volatile at the moment.

Agreed. If recession is confirmed, you can kiss goodbye to a 4000-rated FTSE. Down she'll blow to the 3000s again. Also, from what I can gather, we will have a small recovery lasting a year or two, and then the !!!!!! will hit the fan again. I can see large drops and large spikes for a good few years yet.

And by the sounds of it OP, you don't sound like someone who even knows what they are doing. Just because the miners "jumped", it doesn't mean that next week a full recovery is on the way.

Just because green energy "makes sense", it doesn't mean any company in this sector will be a 10-bagger.

I would strongly suggest you transfer that £10k into a savings account and spend the next year or so reading up about the stock market and how to trade. Sign up to MSN virtual trader and try that for a year or so and see how you fare. It will give you a good grounding as to how an (execution only) online broker works.

Just because every Tom, !!!!!! and Harry is saying now is a "great time" to invest, means you should just blind throw your money onto the stock market and hope for the best. If you are going to do that, without even researching anything about a company, I would strongly suggest one of two things: stick to the top 20 of the FTSE 100, or go to the bookies.

I bet you couldn't even tell me how to work out a P/E ratio or what market cap means. Does this mean you should think about trading?

What's the rush? We could be entering a 20 year bear market. And regardless of market upturn or downturn, there will always be companies to make good money from. It's just a case of finding them.

Take my advice because the chances are, with such limited knowledge, you can kiss that £10k goodbye.

It is moronic to "rush" in to any investment just because of "once in a lifetime" pressure. Don't buy it. Never buy into sentiment.

Buy some investment books instead and always keep a cool head. It'll be the best thing that could ever happen to that £10k of yours.

StevieJ

Why if recession is confirmed? In 1990 the market bottomed late September 1990, this was before the first Qtr of negative growth was even confirmed. If you know anything about stock markets you will know that they will have already anticipated a recession (probably a deep one at that), and by the the time the OP has completed his studies the stock market will probably have anticipated a recovery and flown, but I think we have been here before.
So it is OK to listen to you but not Tom, !!!!!! and Harry.

MoneyTown

I reckon there is good value now - especially if you are willing to invest for the medium to long term. Recession looks already priced in to me.

The Russian stock market is a rollercoaster of fun I've been on lol.

StevieJ

MoneyTown wrote: »

I reckon there is good value now - especially if you are willing to invest for the medium to long term. Recession looks already priced in to me.

The Russian stock market is a rollercoaster of fun I've been on lol.

The Russian market is great fun, I was down 18% last week, now the fund is up. I am glad I invested when the market was 700 not 2200.

richardlionheart

itsmickdundee wrote: »

you don't sound like someone who even knows what they are doing.

yes we can see where listening to the experts has gotten us.


with interest rates falling and house prices coming down ( well they promised affordable housing ,well they got that part right , )

by this time next year , shares maybe one of the few places left to keep ones wealth from simply being eroded away.

however there are still the companies which provide good dividends even though the share prices may be low at the moment .

phil_b_2

Hi Mike (and all others),

I appreciate you keeping me grounded and you did actually sum me up pretty well . It doesn't matter whether I say I know what the various terminology means on here or not as I could just cut and paste from google results so I'll leaving you guessing on that one .

I'm not basing my plans on blind stabs in the dark and random punts, I do look at the companies in at least some detail.

I too beleive now, coming off the biggest hammering stocks have ever taken, has to be a great opportunity for making some money. I've sat and watched the main stocks I've had my eye on go up 60% or so over the last week. I wish I'd pulled the trigger when I originally wanted to.
I'm kinda annoyed at myself for that which is driving me on to wanting to get in on profit even more, which I fear could lead me to making a mistake...

Anyway, at the moment it looks like a newbie investors blind stab is as good as any seasoned veterans educated pick but I'll watch and learn up more first before rushing in then, your warnings are very logical and thanks for the advice.

Incase you're interested, two stocks I almost put 2k each on last week are:

http://finance.google.co.uk/finance?q=NYSE:YGE
http://finance.google.co.uk/finance?q=LON:HOC

If any imediate thoughts come to mind feel free to unleash!

pumpndump

I have just put a load of money on Wall Street, which I will immediately take off again after the election. As they say, no one ever went broke by taking a profit. What happens then is not so certain. I used to be a swashbuckler at equities till about 30 years ago, when the firm I worked for transferred me to bonds. After the usual kicking and screaming, I got to like bonds so much that I prefer them to equities. They say they are boring. I think subtle is a better desciption. I made a killing on US Bonds during the recent Wall Street meltdown, when so many billions of dollars moved out of stock, as the Americans call equities, and drove the yield of some US bonds negative. I quickly sold. For that reason, I keep a lot of money in government bonds in anticipation of another crash. I do have some blue chips on the LSE, but they are long term stuff.

My advice would be to buy only blue chips: they are dirt cheap at the moment. (As David Dickinson says of antiques: buy quality; it will never let you down.) Or buy bonds: while equities are on a roller coaster ride, these things will be spewing out money. Also, if you hold corporate bonds in, say, RBS, you will get your 6 monthly payment BEFORE any shareholder gets paid. In fact you will get your payment even if the shareholders don't get paid.

purch

I have just put a load of money on Wall Street

Can you tell me where ?.....I have a good friend who works at BoNY and I'll get him to check and see if it is still there (I doubt it personally....lots of hobos sleep around there)

Is now really the time to jump in???

It depends entirely on what your timeframe and expectation is. We are in a bear market for Equities and that will continue well into 2009, and probably beyond. That doesn't rule out the market (FTSE100) moving up 700-1000 points from here in the interim, but if you do "jump in" you need to keep that in the forefront of your thinking.

BTW....pumpndump would immediately sh*t his pants and faint if he ever went near a trading floor............anyone who ever worked in the markets would never talk the way he does...............do you think it impresses anyone ? :rotfl: :rotfl: