Today's Market
by Dr Invest

The only thing that makes me more nervous than a downtrend in the market, is an uptrend in the market. A 490 point gain in the DOW is nothing short of unusual. It shows that there is A LOT OF MONEY wanting to go into the market.

I wrote in an earlier blog about how the market is simmular to a beach ball floating on the water. You can pressure it under the water, but when released, it will spring into the air in relationship to the pressure used to keep it under the water. The bad news here is that after the ball shoots into the air, it will have a tendancy to fall back into equilibrium... that is the surface of the water. So these "good times" are not going to last for long. I am hoping we will get one more day because I am not happy with the characteristics of FDO (family dollar) and want to sell that stock as soon as possible.

Let's look once again at my selection of stocks and their performance to-date.

                                                  BUY                 ON MONDAY           YESTERDAY          TODAY
FDO (Family Dollar)                $58.8193            loss 4.12%                         loss 3.34%       gain   .68%
DLTR (Dollar Tree)                  $79.20                loss 2.75%                         gain   .53%      gain 2.81%
CATM (Cardtronics ATMs)     $24.81                 loss .32%                          gain 2.01%      gain 9.42%

This is the pace of the stock market. The market is so volatile that the slightest bad news will demolish any gains you might have. How the market will rise is also unpredictable. You can't afford to let your emotions rule you. FOLLOW THE RULES and you will find success. If you are undisciplined, impatient, and greedy, choose another profession because you are going to lose a whole lot of money.

Inspite of the impressive gains on my selected stocks, I am very nervous. I know what comes next, several days of downtrend. At this point I need to consider how I want to leave the market. Putting the trailing-stop or stop-sell nearer the closing price will do the trick and I can leave the maket with some profit.

Again, leaving the market too early because of your emotions also shows a lack of personal discipline. I will carefully watch the market until Friday, hoping that the remainder of the week results in my stocks growing just a bit more.

Remember, ALL MY STOCKS WERE DOWN LAST WEEK 5%. Adding that 5% to the present gains shows how much the market has grown this week. CATM has grown a remarkable 14.42% in the past 5 trading days. DLTR has grown a remarkable 7.81% over the past 5 trading days. I can't imagine the market keeping this pace much longer, but the present view is that Black Friday and Cyber Monday have produced results out pacing the analysts expectations and that the remainder of the Christmas Season will produce outstanding sales.

For all the excitement, one still has to remain aware that Italy, Spain, and Greece are still near collapse. All of the promises to underpin the EuroEconomies will likely falter in the near future (by February or March), so I would be careful not to get too excited by increased temporary Christmas hiring.

I am still recommending: STAY OUT OF THE MARKET!

(note: The above article is soley for entertainment purposes and not to be use for any investment purposes.)