Frank, you are absolutely right. This has become a game for the big boys. The market is a lot higher now and lots of profits have been made so fund managers, analysts for their brokerages and shady players are in the market. Profit taking has always been part of investments but now we are preyed upon because there has been more money made in the market than ever before and investors are scared to lose their profits when the market goes down. Professionals and the like know this and therefore have a great time upgrading and downgrading to make those commissions and bonusses. Yes, something changes always in the market like interest rates, inflation, deflation, influences from other countries problems, but this is plain ridiculous. We have the best of times in the economy - yes we have to look forward - but now they are bringing the qtr. to qtr. earnings to the forefront more than ever. Those people have realized that the average investors could not be driven out of the market at will, so now more drastic measures are in order. Not only are cos. with bad earnings are downgraded, now they are starting to downgrade good cos. that have ties or could have ties with cos. in a little downdraft or just slightly lesser earnings. Wireless is an example. One co. mentioned slower growth because of less orders in the wireless section and now we get all the profit taking in those cos. Nokia etc. This market is a total different animal now. I have come to the conclusion that the only way to stay abreast with those guys is to trade more. Take part your money and buy and sell. We are being told long term is the best way, like pigs being led to slaughter, while those same guys telling us this, go merrily ahead and use our money to reap profits. At this point I have not done anything in months but I may have to re-evaluate my strategy some more. I think a lot of investors have gone this route already. ML is one of the big culprits, they will upgrade a stock and then almost immediately downgrade it. Cisco was upgraded by them a couple of days ago and what happened? Like you, I would never buy from those guys again. Cramer mentioned yesterday that T.K. was the best analyst in the business - give me a break. I thought more of Cramer before, but what can you expect, even he is a momentum player. He will go short or long on the drop of a dime. Truff has the right idea, trade more but I will not go the short route.
Someone mentioned this morning if he was buying a chip co.it would be Intel. Amat has been recomm. also. And yes, I guess you know that coke has been upgraded so maybe you will see some improvement in your portfolio soon.
Sonny |
