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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gottfried who wrote (40605)	12/8/2000 8:40:54 AM
From: michael97123	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

U.S. jobless rate edges up to 4 % 8:34 a ET The U.S. economy created 94,000 new jobs in November, the Labor Department reported Friday, less than the 150,000 new positions economists on Wall Street had anticipated. The unemployment rate edged up to 4.0% from 3.9%. Average hourly earnings rose 6 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $13.94 an hour.

To: Gottfried who wrote (40605)	12/8/2000 11:24:59 AM
From: brunn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

I have found it easier to take advantage of the volatility by buying than by selling. I first started investing in AMAT in 1996 and was unsuccessful in trying to trade it. My investment horizon and fear of taxes also support a buy and hold strategy. Also, I would argue that buying just is easier with this sector. Buy after it falls 50% or more. Buy after the downgrades. Buy when reaching historically low P/E, P/S or P/B. I cannot figure out sell indicators however--perhaps sell when no one believes its cyclical anymore but that is pretty subjective. In 1998 I used the downturn to buy AMAT's competitors--e.g. NVLS, ASML, SFAM, KLIC, KLAC--but in 1999 I realized that AMAT was outperforming the sector and consolidated everything into AMAT. I have invested a little more in AMAT but once again I have felt compelled to diversify into other semiequips--BRKS and NVLS--which seem to offer better values. If I did not already have such a big investment in AMAT I would be buying it instead. I do feel that once again AMAT is poised to outperform going forward and that probably is why others seem like better values. I just do not like to have too much in one basket. My tendency is to get in too early and I realize that the worst is very likely not over (certainly business-wise, the stock price is more difficult to predict). I am prepared to buy more AMAT over the next few months. If I never get to make these purchases though, I can be happy with the investment that I already have.