Brace yourself: markets have further to fall

bendix

blinko wrote: »

markets are volitile at the moment, id probably wait for friday news on US payroll data, although thats a punt in itself if its better thanmarkets expefations you will probably make 3% in a day on fund if its worse probably lose 2 - 3% so you can wait or take a punt there

otherwise its a wait and see, personally im holding till april next year, i think the short term gains are still there to be made and im expecting government cut backs to kick in around then, also i think the markets will pause for breathe so we will see

the best ISA is 3.75% which isn't too bad considering the markets state at the moment but again theres so much good news and bad news its up and down eg day far east data boosted ftse by 2.5% yesterday it was down by 2% midday but recovered to 0.1% gain

I'm sorry, but that's awful advice. Investing in share-related funds is a long term play and suggesting you wait a few days to cover for a particular piece of news to come out is nonsense, not just because there is so much news coming out but also because funds take 3-4 days to process, so how can you time it.

By the way, your figures re FTSE are wrong. It added 0.45% yesterday, 0.9% last Friday and - at the time of writing - is looking at a gain of around 2.5% today.

Of course, it could easily fall 1% tomorrow.

It is precisely that short-term volatility which makes trying to time the markets an exercise in futility.

RoyalSwank

Reaper wrote: »

What will you be looking for? Will a rise or a fall inspire you to invest? I bet you are thinking a longish period of rises but that means you will have missed the turning point.

Trying to spot the bottom of the market is a hopeless task. For that reason my view is you are best off drip feeding when the market is low. With hindsight some of it will turn out to have been bought at too high a price and some a complete bargain right at the bottom. Hopefully it will average out to a reasonable buy price. That's my strategy anyway, there are plenty of others.

I'm concerned that due to the current economic outlook there could be a 'double dip' and thus we'll be looking at falls further than the current volatility we're seeing at the moment. I'm not afraid of volatility, but don't see the point in entering the market with a potential black cloud hanging over it. It seems quite a few have this worry, but I'm by no means an expert.

Initially drip feeding my investment is a good suggestion and certainly an option I'll consider.

I'm certainly tempted to keep my cash at the moment though to see how things pan out into early next year.

blinko

RoyalSwank wrote: »

I'm concerned that due to the current economic outlook there could be a 'double dip' and thus we'll be looking at falls further than the current volatility we're seeing at the moment. I'm not afraid of volatility, but don't see the point in entering the market with a potential black cloud hanging over it. It seems quite a few have this worry, but I'm by no means an expert.

Initially drip feeding my investment is a good suggestion and certainly an option I'll consider.

I'm certainly tempted to keep my cash at the moment though to see how things pan out into early next year.

its up to you buddy if ure unsure make virtual portfolio at morning star

its a difficult time at the moment markets are looking for direction