TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Yes indeed. Of course, all gains are on paper also until you make them real by selling.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

The VIX is nearing all-time highs.

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

Dump it now, then take the proceeds and go back into a position in CAT, after it bottoms out. Savy investors live by such buying methods. Don't be so gloomy, for every sale there is someone making a profit. The stock markets demand knowledgable investors, not the rank and file amateurs who make all the whinning noise because they have no idea how things work in the investment world. The stock markets are not the place for OJT.

rayclay Loc: Arab, AL., USA

In 2000 we had 1 mil in mutual funds. Today It's off $435,000.00. Yet a month ago it was wort 2.5 mil. dollars and we have taken out 1.6 mil. to live on in the twenty years. It's been off a good bit three times in 20 years. Just a good Vanguard fund that just keeps on giving and growing. Stay the course.

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace

It's time to Unwatch this topic.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

The bear market that just started is due to a health emergency. There is no way to know how long that emergency will last. Consumers are spooked and are not spending money. Businesses are spooked and not making it possible for consumers to spend money.

Economic indicators before this started were very good so it's likely that there will be a recovery, but no way to know when it will begin and how fast it will go. I suspect it will be like 1987, where the market dropped sharply, then started to rise again slowly. It's a matter of consumer confidence.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Schwabo Loc: Florida

Ditto!!!!!!

Toby

AMEN. Generally, the majority are wrong about the market. Buy when there is blood on the streets was said during the 20's and is still good. Yesterday I heard someone say "if you liked ABC stock at $100 why don't you like it 2x as much at $50?"Everyone who jumped out recently will be kicking themselves in a year or so (I hope).

Schwabo Loc: Florida

Bought yesterday and today (SPY, BNS, BAC,) BNS has aprox 6.5 % Div.

Schwabo Loc: Florida

Bought yesterday and today (SPY, BNS, BAC,) BNS has aprox 6.5 % Div.

rcarol

Exactly!

Old Coot

Owned Microsoft stock before 1987. Sold it with the crash. Still made a little money. If I had kept it would have been a multi millionaire as of last week. Not going to panic this time

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I really don't think we're at the bottom yet. Since this is predominantly driven by the health crisis, it is still ongoing and according to health experts, likely to get worse before it gets better. With 14 days being suggested as the quarantine period for people who have had contact with others with the virus, It may take that long before we get a better idea of things. And as we get more test kits, there will be more testing, probably uncovering a lot of carriers. So the virus numbers are likely to go up and the stock numbers down, at least for a couple weeks or maybe even a couple months.

I have a cash position at this point, which I will sit on until I think we're closer to the bottom.

Here's DJI in '87. Really looks like a bubble to me. Not the same as this year. One interesting thing is that the DJI was tooling along until January 1987, when it pivoted. After the fall, it went back to pretty much the same level as it was in January, then followed the same curve from there.
(Red and green dots mark local highs and lows. Green line is a 21 day smoothed curve of closing numbers. Red lines are 2 sigma from the smoothed curve).

(Download)

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

And the market was due for a correction anyway. We not only have the current crisis which can/will affect trade, income and spending, we also have a ton of derivatives in the current market, so when it unwinds, the effect is magnified. I doubt we’ve seen the bottom yet, but who can accurately time or predict the market? At a time like this, cash is king.

Edit: btw, I see that the market is back up almost 2,000 points today - going to be a wild ride.