RE: "...should I wait for a pullback to buy now that I missed this latest big run?"
Here's one man's opinion:
"Cramer on the Staying Power of the Bull
By James J. Cramer 2/6/98 11:46 AM ET
Does this market have a Kevlar jacket on or what? The president is getting ripped by a bunch of out-of-touch reporters and the bull blows right by. If I were Clinton I would just tell these guys to take a hike, or get a ticker!!!!
Seriously, today has a sort of 1992 or 1985 feel to it. That means you can buy a bank or a broker or a drug stock or a cyclical and make money. Those were years when you had to close your eyes and buy. You don't get that kind of action right before a big selloff.
As I have been saying ever since the Matt Lauer-Hillary Clinton rally began, this market has legs. It's got everything going for it: takeovers like SmithKline and rumors of takeovers like Netscape, and now J.P. Morgan. This market loves tech one day, drugs the next, and the drillers after that.
My tactic for dealing with a bull tape like this is that I like to both buy winners and buy momentary selloffs triggered by analysts who downgrade stocks.
I will give you an example. Yesterday some of the banks got hit, so I bought them. Two days ago some of the drugs got hit on downgrades, and I bought those, too. Today some tech is getting hit, so I am buying it. I'm taking this admittedly glib approach because my bull market playbook says you have to use the rare weakness to get into what you want, and you have to be disciplined enough to buy up a couple if you think something is going to run. When JPM was up 2, I got the call that there are a ton of buyers. I thought that it was dicey. I left five on the table. Five Easy Points!
Soon the psychology of this market will take on the following coloration: "Gawd, I hope the market goes down so I can get in." Therefore it won't. Nobody gets rewarded for being timid. Patience, at times like this, is not a virtue." |