I keep looking for the right picture to describe my own feeling of being whipped around in this market. Would a bucking bronco from National Geographic explain it properly?
This is far worse than any roller coaster I have ever been on. The daily gyrations are enough to give anyone motion sickness. The lurches and dips are a challenge for a professional investor, let alone an amateur to deal with in any rational fashion.
After being led to dump shares in holdings on losses, the market took me for another ride moving higher this afternoon, the Dow closing at 8,979.26, up 401.35, and the Nasdaq finishing the day at 1,717.71.
Noticing that the market was lurching in an upwards direction, I took a look at the lists of top % gainers, trying this time to stick with my own rules, and with a "permission slip" to be buying a position (since I was once again under my minimum of 5 holdings), I saw that Rollins (ROL) was making a nice move higher, and with a brief inspection of the latest quarter, the Morningstar.com "5-Yr restated", it appeared to be appropriate and purchased 350 shares at $14.67/share.
Just one position for today. No more "all in"!
Anyhow, wish me luck. I shall try to hang onto this bronco at least for a few more hours.
If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them on the blog or email me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com.
Yours in investing,
Bob