Liquidate entire portfolio until virus is over?

masonic

NorthernJoe said:

Calling it now. . . 15% down across the board tomorrow 

Now that would be a sight to behold.

masonic

JustAnotherSaver said:

Can someone explain to me how this differs from the advice that is thrown around to not try and 'time the market' as i've clearly understood something wrong. Just not sure what.

This thread is all about market timing and can be safely ignored by anyone sufficiently sensible

EdGasketTheSecond

Wall St. was up 10% on Friday though; we may start off blue at least.

Alexland

greggymagic said:

You saw all that last week?
At this stage it's not so much as what's priced in - surely it's actual real world figures that businesses are going to take a kicking?

I don't claim to be Nostradamus but nothing in your list has surprised me at all. It's just trying to work out how many other people are still being surprised. The market has already tried to price in that real world business will take a kicking while this plays out. It may have under or overpriced this as it's impossible to be precise in such circumstances. I remain confident many companies will still do OK in the long term.

JustAnotherSaver said:

Can someone explain to me how this differs from the advice that is thrown around to not try and 'time the market' as i've clearly understood something wrong. Just not sure what.

Yup you are right we are playing 'time the market' but for me it's just a bit of fun with a small proportion of our family's money and in the long term the particular price we buy into a small amount of cheaper equities doesn't make a lot of difference.

Ciprico

EdGasketTheSecond said:

Wall St. was up 10% on Friday though; we may start off blue at least.

....because Trump printed a gazillion dollars...
How many times can he do that and at what damage to the US economy and the rest of the world holding dollars.  If the Chinese sell their dollars due to  being devalued a whole new chapter opens 

coastline

As I posted earlier the US rallied when Europe closed so within reason this needs to be factored in. Looking at the link below the Dow stood around 21500 at 4.30pm Friday and closed 22800. Set the chart to 1 day.That's massive although its very volatile. Could well see a good 5% up in the other markets early Monday.
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/stock-market

BrockStoker

This will be a reality check for many as to what investing is actually about. Been far too easy for a number of years to simply make money by doing nothing more than buying the market. Any forecasts for the markets in the week ahead?  
You could easily be right. It's impossible to know for sure, but I think it's possible to narrow down the possibilities based on what we are seeing now. 
We already know it's not going away, but IMHO, the market has already over reacted, and basically already priced in an ebola pandemic effectively. This could easily be over as fast as it begun, although the actions governments are taking can/are harm/harming businesses in certain sectors, the majority should bounce back.
I'm certainly glad to be extremely overweight biotechnology/healthcare, as these types of stocks should basicly not be as badly affected (some biotechs have even seen their share prices increase) dispite the selling off of risky assets in general. All that has done is create an amazing buying opportunity for those with cash to spare.
Only time will tell, but I'm happy to have had the chance to pick up some great stocks at great prices, while still having plenty more dry powder left should the situation become prolonged. 

m_c_s

The FED looks like it's panicking and I think the markets will now probably price in a US economic contraction. If the prediction of some scientists is right that this could last until 2021 a deeper contraction may be priced in with the next few week seeing significant volatility. 

Thrugelmir

JustAnotherSaver said:

Can someone explain to me how this differs from the advice that is thrown around to not try and 'time the market' as i've clearly understood something wrong. Just not sure what.

These are extraordinary times where normal rules may well not apply. We'll all be much wiser when the dust settles. 

Thrugelmir

123mat123 said:

EdGasketTheSecond said:

Wall St. was up 10% on Friday though; we may start off blue at least.

....because Trump printed a gazillion dollars...
How many times can he do that and at what damage to the US economy and the rest of the world holding dollars.  If the Chinese sell their dollars due to  being devalued a whole new chapter opens 

The Fed operates independently of Trump. As the BOE and ECB do to their respective Governments. 
China has debt issues of it's own. Huge sums spent on projects that have been aborted or failed to deliver a return.