I disagree about simply saying it is a buy or hold. I firmly believe its a solid hold...depending on your price, of course, and ability to deal with pain if that price is much higher. And disclosure is meaningless....I could've said I had 1000 shares and you wouldn't know the difference. The truth is simply what you want it to be on these boards. The fact I happen to be even remotely honest only works in my favor. What kills me are the idiots who run around spouting about their 100% gains every year and how they haven't been hurt by the downturn. That, I know, is bluster...and there are quite a few of those morons. In addition, I can't stand the posters who suddenly turn up to engage in schadenfreude. It galls me no end. I don't mind losing money...that happens in the stock market sometimes. What I do mind is a dope with a big mouth telling me how I could've avoided losing anything "if you'd only listened to me". Eventually, a bear will be right in the midst of a bull market. But usually it is over a much shorter time frame, and usually the biggest bears are the worst positioned.
In addition, I disclosed my position on ORCL at least 4 times over the last 6 months. It has been unchanged. I even disclosed it once to you, but you obviously don't read my posts in their entirety.
As for the indices reaching your goals...nice for you. Glad you're one of the winners. I'm actually pissed at Greenspan now. He had the opportunity to nip this in the bud yesterday and didn't. I'm holding out (slight) hope for an intermeeting cut of 1/2 a point, which should finally end the bleeding. However, I don't really think things are really going to turn around unless he quickly gets rates down to the 4% level....otherwise we'll have to die the death of 1000 cuts until it hits 3%.
Overall, the economy is amazingly good condition for having gone through such a spec bubble. I'm surprised things didn't get worse faster. My industry is the first to see the signs of a turnaround (media spending). While that hasn't occurred yet, things have levelled off. That's a good sign. It usually signals we've bottomed. Anything can happen, of course, but based on historical trends, we look to have reached a good place. |
