Stock Market Thread

[PsychicOtter]

Not sure if anybody on here is in to investing, but I thought I'd give this a shot anyway. If you have any ideas, stock tips/picks, questions, discuss them here.

My recent picks include Sirius XM Radio (SIRI) and Vale (VALE), and I've always liked 3M (MMM) and MasterCard (MA).

 

[ADF]

I don't invest in stocks, but if I did; I'd consider it a high risk environment right now.

You've got savers who really shouldn't be investing in stocks who have been forced into it by the effectively negative interest rates. So you have people who don't really know what they are doing, just trying to put their money 'somewhere' that could cover inflation. Then you've got the investment bankers on the flip side who essentially have access to free money to speculate with, plus QE money pumping up stocks and commodities.

It's a very manipulated, stimulus bloated environment. You don't know when the next flash crash will be, like in May 2010. Or if the next Fed/Central bank announcement will bite you in the backside.

So you're quite brave to have your chips on the table, just be careful.

 

[Rasly]

it is like asking for tips for a cassino

If you want to have a little fun, then invest into precious materials, but if you want lots of fun, then invest into currency, either way you will lose your money, unless you have millions on your account.

 

[dinosaurdammit]

Get preferred stocks. Also money market accounts

 

[Bambi]

... I've never done stocks.

Always wanted to try. So does it work like ... okay, you buy a stock at 60$. Economy does well, business you bought the stock with has a value jump, so now while your stock was worth 60$ oh so long ago, it is now 120$ to purchase, and if you sold your share, stock, whatever, you'd have 120$, gaining essentially back the 60$ you used for purchase, plus the other sixty as an added pay-out?

 

[Rasly]

... I've never done stocks.

Always wanted to try. So does it work like ... okay, you buy a stock at 60$. Economy does well, business you bought the stock with has a value jump, so now while your stock was worth 60$ oh so long ago, it is now 120$ to purchase, and if you sold your share, stock, whatever, you'd have 120$, gaining essentially back the 60$ you used for purchase, plus the other sixty as an added pay-out?

Yes, but you will also have to pay for transaction, depends on who your broker is, it may even be 80 bucks, so if you sell for 120, you will lose 20.

 

[Fernin]

Investing in precious metals. Sure they grow far slower than a stock can, but they're all but immune to inflation, market crashes and so forth. At the very worst you're pretty much guaranteed to make at least a small gain, and it's a solid way to protect your money.

 

[Bambi]

Alright, I hear you guys.

So, is there any point where if something goes wrong, you can't sell, or you have to bid more for something?

 

[Rasly]

Alright, I hear you guys.

So, is there any point where if something goes wrong, you can't sell, or you have to bid more for something?

No, well theoretically, some stack may become worthless, but i have never seen anything like this happening. And no, nobody will force you to bid for anything.

 

[PsychicOtter]

... I've never done stocks.
Always wanted to try. So does it work like ... okay, you buy a stock at 60$. Economy does well, business you bought the stock with has a value jump, so now while your stock was worth 60$ oh so long ago, it is now 120$ to purchase, and if you sold your share, stock, whatever, you'd have 120$, gaining essentially back the 60$ you used for purchase, plus the other sixty as an added pay-out?

Basically, although it gets very complex. Try this website for tips, lessons, and strategies from basic to adanced:
http://www.stockhomework101.com/

Be careful, though. You don't want to jump into the market before you know what you're doing.

Alright, I hear you guys.

So, is there any point where if something goes wrong, you can't sell, or you have to bid more for something?

No, that doesn't really happen.

 

[PsychicOtter]

Investing in precious metals. Sure they grow far slower than a stock can, but they're all but immune to inflation, market crashes and so forth. At the very worst you're pretty much guaranteed to make at least a small gain, and it's a solid way to protect your money.

I agree. Vale is an international company based in Brazil (an emerging economy) that mines all sorts of precious metals.

 

[Deo]

IBM, Exxon Mobile, DEO (I picked this one on a whim because of my characters name and it has done really well), UTX, BDX, XOM, BA, EAD.PA.

I think gold and silver are the next big bubble to burst. I just do not see them making the same leaps as previously seen. Keep in mind that a big fuel for this flame is all the cash for gold economy is doomed scare tactics aimed the elderly. So eventually the fear mongering will end or the generation is elderly that expanded that market will die and their possessions sold, ergo tipping the supply demand scales.


also brokers are OK I suppose, but online stock trading is more effective, better at getting on trends fast, and costs less. I prefer Scottrade over Etrade. And if you are in funds actively managed funds charge you a lot more and usually have the same or worse gains. Fund management fees will gut your profits. I think a few months ago Money Magazine had a good article on funds.

 

[ADF]

it is like asking for tips for a cassino

Speculation is like a casino, investment is a different animal entirely. Of course in these extreme times the lines are blurred between speculation and investment.

Investment is parking your money in an area and waiting months, commonly years for it to grow. That money giving the company funds to buy materials, equipment and labour. It broadly benefits a lot of people, both the new employment this company was able to generate by selling shares and the share holders by their investment gaining value if the company does well.

Speculators are the parasites of the financial world. They're the stock flippers, the people who move their money all over the place in the hope of getting a few percent and then moving on to something else. They don't care if the market is crashing or booming, so long as they placed the right "bet" to profit from those moves. Speculators do not benefit the business world as companies haven't got hold of the money long enough to do anything with it. Combined with high frequency trading, companies typically have a speculators money for about... 10? Milliseconds? So companies cannot utilise a speculators funds, and it is like a casino.

Low interest rates favour speculation over investment as it is cheap for speculators to loan money for leverage on their short term bets. Since they're at historical lows, the markets are swamped with speculation and very little long term investment is going on. 0.25%/0.50% central bank interest rates are like rocket fuel for speculators. The government claims these low rates help an economy recover, but they've just turned it into a giant casino.

If you want to have a little fun, then invest into precious materials, but if you want lots of fun, then invest into currency, either way you will lose your money, unless you have millions on your account.

I wouldn't touch currencies with a pole, in investment terms. There is a currency war going on, as in multiple countries trying to "competitively devalue" more than the other guy, trying to grow their way out of recession/depression by making their exports more competitive. Which of course doesn't work when 'everyone' is doing it and they just create a devaluation race, a race to the bottom...

Anyone with their money in currencies is going to lose big time.

Alright, I hear you guys.

So, is there any point where if something goes wrong, you can't sell, or you have to bid more for something?

When things go wrong, very wrong, as we have seen in the last couple of years. They can and have put capital controls in place. So if the market goes down the toilet, the traders are locked out and they're left helpless as they see their life saving disappear. It happened during 9/11, it happened in 2008 and it happened May 2010.

Ever wanted to see a panicking trader as the markets are crashing and they are locked out so cannot sell? This is from the May 2010 crash.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmTcFIJTqMI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqKAPRWFKZ4

I don't understand why someone would want to wipe 10 years off their life through stress by becoming a trader

 

[PsychicOtter]

I wouldn't touch currencies with a pole, in investment terms. There is a currency war going on, as in multiple countries trying to "competitively devalue" more than the other guy, trying to grow their way out of recession/depression by making their exports more competitive. Which of course doesn't work when 'everyone' is doing it and they just create a devaluation race, a race to the bottom...

Agreed. I've never been a big currency guy because they're so hard to predict (they rely heavily on government decisions, which can be impossible to see coming).

 

[Rasly]

When things go wrong, very wrong, as we have seen in the last couple of years. They can and have put capital controls in place. So if the market goes down the toilet, the traders are locked out and they're left helpless as they see their life saving disappear. It happened during 9/11, it happened in 2008 and it happened May 2010.

Wasn't it only in some countries like france? Last time i remember, France locked thair traders while i could still do whatever i wanted.

I don't understand why someone would want to wipe 10 years off their life through stress by becoming a trader

Well, just the idea that you can double your money in a couple of days, it is enough reason for many ^^

 

[Deo]

No, that doesn't really happen.

Unless it's penny stocks. Those are wildly unpredictable.


Also, I think real estate is a better investment if you are smart about the location, handy with repairs yourself, and rent it out/resell before taxes get ya. And farm land is a huge boom too. My father's farm land just went up a great deal last year, and since we rent that farmland out the drought doesn't effect us so it a very positive year. And farms are great tax shelters. Pick up trucks become tax deductible 'farm equipment' etc.

 

[PsychicOtter]

Unless it's penny stocks. Those are wildly unpredictable.

I've never tried those, and I can almost guarentee you I never will.

 

[Rasly]

Ever wanted to see a panicking trader as the markets are crashing and they are locked out so cannot sell? This is from the May 2010 crash.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmTcFIJTqMI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqKAPRWFKZ4

Same as in casino. His own fault, if you don't want lose more then you have, don't buy stack for more then you have.

 

[Deo]

I only do it if the political scene is right. I'll buy medical marijuana penny stocks before big press hits on a legalization vote. The public interest, press, and notoriety usually makes those stocks jump a little (which given the tiny price is a large percentage of growth) and I cash in before legal slog hits and public interest moves on.

 

[Rilvor]

I've always wondered how the precious metals division would be affected if this space mining corporation actually succeeds...

 

[Rasly]

I've always wondered how the precious metals division would be affected if this space mining corporation actually succeeds...

I wound say prices will fall, but what do they want to mine there? water?

 

[ADF]

Same as in casino. His own fault, if you don't want lose more then you have, don't buy stack for more then you have.

Stocks are an important part of the Capitalist system. Without being able to sell shares, how do companies wishing to expand quickly raise the funds to do so? If they do well the shareholder makes a return on their investment, dividends even. The public benefit because these funds being made available for expansion creates jobs.

Stocks are not a bad thing, but like a lot in the financial sector since the 80s; it has become distorted from its original purpose.

Take for instance futures. Futures were NEVER intended to be used for speculation. They were made so producers such as farmers could sell their 'future' production at a set price, providing price stability should prices suddenly drop. The buyer of the future is also hoping to keep the cost of their purchase down, should prices suddenly rise. So it is like a bet, but mostly it's about price security, an agreement between a producer and buyer.

Then the speculators came in and realised they could use futures to profit on price movements...

Commodity Futures and Exchange Traded Funds are particularly popular amongst speculators these days, because the central banks inflationary policy of low interest rates combined with quantitative easing is pushing up commodity prices. So it's a fairly safe bet for speculators to assume the trend for the long term is up.

I've always wondered how the precious metals division would be affected if this space mining corporation actually succeeds...

Well any increase in supply independent from increases in demand will bring down the price of precious metals, as well as any other materials they find up there. But I'm not going to let a theoretical future scenario like that deter me from buying a little gold every now and then. If not gold then what? The financial and monetary system is in a shambles today, nothing is safe. Not even government bonds/gilts/debt, which once upon a time was regarded as a AAA no risk asset; but now has become the next big bubble. With government bonds effectively offering negative returns when factoring inflation, you wouldn't think there would be a buying frenzy pumping up a bubble. But when you consider that most of that buying is the governments own central bank, then you realise the moment the money printing stops; the bond bubble is going to blow.

 

[Bliss]

If you have any ideas, stock tips/picks, questions, discuss them here.

Buy and hold eternally. Also, dividends are nice.

This spring, in a few months, my account will be happy.

 

[Aleu]

I'm too poor for any of that. Also I don't like anyone else with my money if it ain't in a bank account.

 

[PsychicOtter]

Buy and hold eternally. Also, dividends are nice.

This spring, in a few months, my account will be happy.

I've always been a dividend fan as well. They aren't huge factors for me, but they're great bonuses and often times help me decide between multiple companies.