Markets and funds rising this week

John464

redpete said:

I love playing with numbers and happy to log prices / values once a week. 

Will you still love it when the next crash comes?

John464

Alexland said:

MarkCarnage said:

Your name is Warren Buffett and I claim my £100.....

I'd rather be young than that wealthy!

So would I and I'm sure Buffet would too
As he says 'I can't buy time and I can't buy love'

Diplodicus

Depends you spend your youth and your prime.

Becoming a fixture on a platform dedicated to saving money... not so great.

Alexland

Diplodicus said:

Becoming a fixture on a platform dedicated to saving money... not so great.

Well you are here too - and if that's how you feel about this forum maybe try and find something else to do with your life?

jamesd

John464 said:

redpete said:

I love playing with numbers and happy to log prices / values once a week. 

Will you still love it when the next crash comes?

I did so for every fund I owned for around ten years. Including during the 2008-9 market turbulence. It helped me to get a decent understanding of market turbulence and normal variation.

I stopped a few years ago because it wasn't worthwhile any more. I also now make it a practice to seldom or never look during substantial downturns because I know they are expected and don't need stimulation that might prompt a poor decision. However, that's in part because I don't currently have as much cash as I want. When that's more present I'd look for buying opportunities.

IvanOpinion

I did my monthly balances last weekend, which were good and then read this thread.  !!!!!!, possibly the best week I have seen in ages, I just earned the equivalent of a full years take home pay in a single week.  I am guessing it might fall back before the end of the year though as people reconcile and close out positions at year end

eskbanker

IvanOpinion said:

I am guessing it might fall back before the end of the year though as people reconcile and close out positions at year end

Why would investors act differently for something as arbitrary as a date on the calendar?  Is there any historical evidence of such behaviour either influencing asset values or even occurring at all?

IvanOpinion

I have no idea what goes through the minds of dealers, but I have seen it mentioned in various finance related articles over the years and on some years noticed a minor drop just before christmas.  That could be down to people settling or rebalancing at the year end (or end of a financial quarter); self fulfilling dogma that markets drop during longer holidays; fewer people trading.  Sometimes they rally before bank holidays; sometimes they drop in October; some people say to sell in May.  The markets are subject to seasonal trends and the impact of holidays - but it is usually short lived.

It is like asking why do shops shut on a Sunday or over christmas, just an arbitrary date but yet we seem to be a bit of an arbitrary pattern driven species.

eskbanker

IvanOpinion said:

I have no idea what goes through the minds of dealers, but I have seen it mentioned in various finance related articles over the years and on some years noticed a minor drop just before christmas.  That could be down to people settling or rebalancing at the year end (or end of a financial quarter); self fulfilling dogma that markets drop during longer holidays; fewer people trading.  Sometimes they rally before bank holidays; sometimes they drop in October; some people say to sell in May.  The markets are subject to seasonal trends and the impact of holidays - but it is usually short lived.

It is like asking why do shops shut on a Sunday or over christmas, just an arbitrary date but yet we seem to be a bit of an arbitrary pattern driven species.

I don't think the analogy works at all - retail opening hours, regardless of historical reasons, are known and published.

If markets really were following predictable patterns then it would be viable for anyone to make fortunes by timing sales and purchases accordingly, so it seems to me that if it's only occasionally possible to make them fit a pattern then that's not really fitting a pattern at all - if some years have a pre-Christmas drop and others have a pre-Christmas rise then what does that prove?  Or do you have any reliable support for your assertion that "markets are subject to seasonal trends and the impact of holidays"?  If you can spare the time from sipping bubbly on your superyacht, that is....

TBC15

Any week that has you reaching for the Moet instead of the Webley is a good one.