My mother called me this morning.  “I’ve been worried about you.  Are you okay?”, she asked.
I told her that I was fine; that you only lose when you sell.  Which got me thinking…What rules should investors employ in this market?

You only lose when you sell.  The same fundamental reasons for investing in the first place [...]

All right, perhaps panic is too strong a word, but my goodness, it certainly does feel like one. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 5% today and is now down 30% since January 1. The S&P 500 is down 33.7% year to date and the NASDAQ is off 35.6%. This is indeed a bear market, but there is nothing rational about it whatsoever.

The sell off appears to be about nervousness investors are feeling about the future, the global economy, the bailout, corporate earnings. I try to keep a cool head, but the Dow is down 800 points in two days and even I wonder where it’s going to end. Then I remember what Warren Buffet said…

By now you probably know that both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have had very poor quarterly reports.  Worse than expected.  And now we’re in for worse trouble.
Money is now expected to be tighter as we roll into the fall and home buying will continue to be slow due to the fact rates will be [...]

This morning brought news of a refinement of the JPMorgan/Bear Stearns deal. Evidently, Bear Stearns stockholders aren’t happy about the $2/share deal, and want something better. Wouldn’t we all.
What will be interesting is whether the Fed accepts the deal or not. I favored the original deal, but the new deal appears to [...]

It’s odd how Retail Sales could have the nerve to be up when everyone knows it should be down.  How does it do that?
Simple, really, higher prices where demand is not going to retreat quickly.  Gasoline.  And the stuff that uses it.
The problem is that the only really meaningful measure of Retail Sales (year-to-year) is [...]