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To: Voltaire who wrote (11138)	4/5/2000 2:43:00 PM
From: pinhi	Respond to of 35685

V, any would you be buying QCOM calls here in the final hour? Looking at May 140s TIA Pinhi

To: Voltaire who wrote (11138)	4/5/2000 3:08:00 PM
From: alias	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 35685

I've stayed quiet through this recent quandry since I have found it best, for me, to sit on my hands and not get too close to the keyboard. Too much temptation to "do something". For me, when I feel need to "do something" but don't know exactly what to do...I do nothing. Anyway.. As V has said on numerous ocassions, the fund managers, when one understands their agenda, can be our friend. Of course, no one likes what is going on. We all hate "red". We hate FUD. But this crap happens. As to the fund managers. Most equity capital is in pension funds and mutual funds run by pros. That is a good thing. These funds provide the retirement security for middle class America a.k.a.hard working Joe Sixpack and his family. Thank God for them. Anyway, fund prices, unlike stock prices, are not what attracts investors. It's the performance...rate of return, including the end of year cash dividends that are rolled back into the fund and compounded over the years. A lot of cash has to be generated by these funds. Selling profitable holdings at the high generates this cash. Very logical. In addition, when billions flow into these funds, it would be illogical for them to invest these "new" billions at the top of the market. So, what do they do? They sell equities like crazy doubling their billions of cash reserves. The sell-off triggers lower prices. When these prices hit bottom they now have twice as much money to buy back in and drive the prices back up. All reports indicate that the funds are sitting on billions of cash they took in during February and March. Un-invested billions of cash. They didn't invest these billion in stocks cause the stocks in March were at all time high. Had to wait or precipitate a sell-off. We've had a massive sell-off. The funds are flush with cash. So, what are they going to do? I've got an idea. Suggest it might be a good idea for someone or the thread to keep close eye on mutual funds and reports of huge cash reserve build-up..especially when stock prices at the tops. Will be as good a signal, if not better than TA, when all hell is due to break loose. Of course, we'll never know exactly when, the nature, how bad or how long the "hell" will be but maybe we can all be better prepared even though we still may not know "what to do" when it happens. Alias

To: Voltaire who wrote (11138)	4/5/2000 3:40:00 PM
From: Triffin	Respond to of 35685

Voltaire .. Sound familiar ?? Caught this post while doing a little 'thread mining' .. ------------------------------------------------------ To: LastShadow who wrote (33678) From: George Black Wednesday, Apr 5, 2000 2:34 PM ET Respond to Post # 33679 of 33685 HOW STOCKS TURNED BACK FROM THE ABYSS By JOHN CRUDELE SOMETHING happened at around 1 p.m. our time yesterday that pulled the stock market back from the edge of the cliff. Traders say it was almost like divine intervention. One minute the Nasdaq was down 11 percent -- say it out loud, "Eleven percent in one day" -- and then it suddenly rallied several hundred points in the matter of an hour. The Dow followed suit. Down 500 points around mid-day, the blue chip index's decline -- along with the horrible showing of over-the-counter stocks -- was destined to make yesterday's market an unqualified disaster for investors and the country. Then, traders said, someone started buying large amounts of stock index futures contracts through two major brokerage firms -- Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. These transactions are usually done on the QT so we don't really know how many of these contracts were purchased. And unless the brokers tell, there is no way of knowing which of their clients were making the purchases. Goldman wouldn't comment on this and Merrill did not return a call for comment. But traders said enough were bought to catch everyone's attention. In fact, the buyers seemed to want people to know they had an appetite for stocks. Then the market rebounded. It didn't go all the way back. At the end of the day the Dow Jones index had still lost lost 56 points or half a percent on the day. And the Nasdaq lost another 74 points, or the equivalent of a 1.77 percent drop. Yesterday's loss by over-the-counter stocks nearly put the Nasdaq index back to ground zero for the year -- in two days all but 2 percent of its gain for the year was gone. It was real nice of Goldman and Merrill to stick their necks out like that. In fact, it was downright uncharacteristic for Wall Street outfits to put the thought of possible losses aside for the greater good. Because of the purely unselfish nature of what went on, traders are naturally suspicious. Hell, so am I. "I think some one or more persons saved the market today. There was a suspicious urge to buy stocks at an opportune time," says one trader. "Why drive the Dow up 350 points in a half hour? That's never serious buying. That's someone trying to establish prices," he adds. I'm especially suspicious when the market suddenly rebounds at nearly the very same moment that a member of the Clinton administration -- economic advisor Gene Sperling -- is on TV telling investors not to worry. And there's the obvious connection between Goldman Sachs and the administration, the Wall Street firm having given Robert Rubin to the Clinton administration as its Treasury Secretary. Plus, what better way to make investors not worry than by having the stock market recover a lot of the ground it had just lost. That gesture almost makes a guy want to buy some stock -- bottom fish, if you are into sporting analogies. I'm not saying that government intervention in a collapsing market is wrong. In fact -- except for the obvious contradictions with the free-market system -- it is politically and socially a very right thing to do. I've written about this before. And I've mentioned that Washington has had a secretive group call the Working Group on Financial Markets, made up of investment industry and government people, that would be in just the right position to rescue the market. Informally the folks on Wall Street call this the "Plunge Protection Team." In February 1997, the Washington Post did a piece on this team, just in case you don't believe it exists. And while I can't swear that Goldman and Merrill are captains of that team, they sure acted like it yesterday. nypostonline.com EOM------------------------------------------------------ Jim in CT .. The "fix" was in yesterday ..

To: Voltaire who wrote (11138)	4/5/2000 6:13:00 PM
From: Percival 917	Respond to of 35685

Hio Tom, Just made it back from the mountains. Craziest ass weather, I ever saw. Was in the low 70's when we arrived then rained 2 1/2 days then got cold and a snow storm. Today mid 60's and tomorrow upper 70's. Just like the freaking markets!!!! Picked up couple hundred shares of RNWK and also ELON in my Money Purchase account. Thought I had caught RNWK on the way up at 52 and change then got home and saw it finished at 49 and change. Oh well. It was still a great price. I am going to write April 50's on both tomorrow and pick up about $2400 for the 4 contracts. RNWK (RNWDJ) at 5 1/2 and ELON (EULDJ) at 7 5/8. This is a new account I started so I don't have very much to play with, YET! If you don't agree let me know. Thanks, Joel