Markets to crash today at open

[Scotty]

My parents did the same thing with a stock, lost $40k, about 15 years ago. Bad plan. Very bad. You don't just sit there and watch a stock evaporate and lose money. A disciplined trader will exit a position that goes against them by a predefined amount.

I hear ya. It goes against human nature, though. You pay $10 for a stock, the emotional thought is that's what it's worth. You don't want to sell at $9 or $8 or $7 because you figure you're not losing money until you sell ,and it'll come back. Because it's worth $10, right!?

But it's like the death of a thousand cuts. Each by itself stings a bit and you can ignore it.

By the way, those companies you mentioned, I'd strongly suggest you not just sit there like a dear in the headlights and watch your investment go to zero.

Well, fortunately, I didn't exactly throw myself into them. I only bought a couple of thousand in RIM and Manulife. And most of that is gone now, so not much point in leave. Inmet, well, that's a different story. I have more in that, but it's got great copper mines, and it's fall is in tandem with the fall in the price of copper, which in turn is driven by fears of recession, and thus lower demand. It'll come back up as the recession fears ease and demand for copper pushes the price back up.

Your best bet would be selling your stakes in failing companies and buying shares of SPY (the ETF that tracks the S&P 500 index).

Right now the indexes are tracking emotions more than fundamentals, and then you've got all those damned computer trading things going on which are really screwing things over. They don't care about fundamentals either. I think the only reasonably safe stocks are dividend paying ones, now. Although I have concerns there too. Canadian banks? Well, sure, very healthy, but banks are going to get hammered if the Euro situation goes south. Canadian telecoms? Not sure how they'll be affected, particularly cable and satellite TV, as the delivery means moves to the internet. I think energy stocks have been beaten down a lot, and long term, hey, you know they're coming back. I'd have to say they're just about as safe a play as there is in the long term. Though of course I'm far from an expert. Right now I have the most money in bond funds which are doing reasonably well compared to stocks. TD Bonds and TD RR bonds are both up for the year. (7% and 8.7%). The only stock I have which is doing well is Enbridge, which again, seems a pretty safe play.

Edited September 24, 2011 by Scotty

[maple_leafs182]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqN3amj6AcE&feature=feedlik

Awesome video of what this trader thinks about the economy and its future.

[eyeball]

Awesome video of what this trader thinks about the economy and its future.

Another case of Buffetitis. No doubt we'll start seeing a few good deathbed confessions in the next few months too.

I'm reminded of the 9/11 truthers who's sillier notions pretty much require hundreds if not thousands of insiders. The orchestrated destruction of the economy at the hands of outfits like Goldman Sachs seems a lot less silly, given the shape things are in.

[Oleg Bach]

The markets are meaningless- They remind me of a bunch of stooges tossing dice at the wall all day long - hoping to get something for nothing. Look at the millions around the planet who "work" on the market floor - not one of them is capable of putting up a tent when it rains. It is a very bizarre notion and speculation should be done away with - all markets should be closed and those that work at them should get real jobs and create some real wealth - instead of standing their with their fu*cking hand out.

[Bonam]

Looks like I totally called it Markets already up ~10% from the recent lows.