Any Investors in this market?

[GRH]

I'm with you CreativeMind, but I'm personally scared by some of the obtuse nature of the current administration. There has been LOTS of speculation of bank nationalization...And I'm not PER SAY opposed to that. I just want more information about WHAT government interests will spell for stock???!!! As of the past 48 hours, some of the government's preferred shares have been converted to common shares, increasing the government's stake to 36%! Now, that obviously leads to common shareholder dilution, which is likely to depress prices further. I'm with you, I DON'T think Citi is going anywhere, but I wish I had emphatic or contractual guarantees about what happens to common shares as the bank gets more bought out by the government!

Regarding other companies...I'm long in GE right now, despite their recent slashing of the dividend by 68%. I actually think that GE is one of the more responsible corporations, because they are doing everything they can to preserve capital so as to maintain their AAA credit rating. It's painful for me as a shareholder to have a dividend cut, but I think it's the lesser of evils (dividend cut versus long-term sustainability). Similarly, I expect many DOW and S&P companies to trim dividends...I've alread seen this trend happen in dividend yields that were over-valued relative to market-caps...

That said, I still think this is a GREAT market to play. I'm not going to begin to call bottom...I have no idea where it will be! But one hedged way to nibble at the bottom is to assume long plays in stock that you suspect will drop further (but remain strong in the OVERALL economy). At the same time, sell a bear-call set of options which will create a vertical credit spread. If the stock continues to drop, you have the vertical credit spread that is created by the options to partially offset losses. Thus, equity losses is minimized. If the equity moves against bearish sentiments, well...You have the benefit of increased appreciation in the equity! Meanwhile, the (non-bearish) gains begin to cancel out the vertical credit of the options. It's a very hedged way of testing bottom...The biggest negative is that you have three brokerage fees for every position, as opposed to one for a naked position. I wouldn't begin to recommend this strategy in just any market, but in a market where we are questioning bottom, and nibbling on stocks which might fall further...I think the long/bear-call-credit-spread options is a sensible way to hedge market movements while increasing exposure to stocks which you think are good for the very long!

[randolph]

Are any of you guys looking at environmental stocks? Presumably, a lot of money is going to be available for solar, wind, geothermal, algae and other alternatives. Of course a lot will depend on oil prices.

[GRH]

Alt-eneregy has been eaten up and spit out along with just about every other stock in this market. Back when I speculated that we had bottomed out in November I was more optimistic on the alt-energy front. I think the sector (broadly speaking) will benefit from this administration, but it's a sector that generally has a lot of small cap companies that have been completely decimated by market conditions. I read a recent article at MarketWatch about $300/barrel oil. Now in fairness, I was a HARSH critic of said article, but I think oil is definitely set for a long-term rise, if only tied to inflation here in the US. On a long play, I actually like some of the oil bastards...I think they've begun to see the "writing on the wall," and are now invested in trying to further their interests beyond peak oil. The one thing about oil companies is that they pay dividends (not necessarily phenomenal ones), but for a long-call, I MUCH prefer that exposure to something like USO, or some other futures-based ETF. For short-term trading, stick with derivative ETF's and profit. But those ETF's never pay out divies, so stay away for the long.

[randolph]

I bought 1K of Citi. Monday at $1.25, so far so good.
Profit taking is likely soon.

[quickpick]

I gotta say I am very happy with my volatile investments. Put my $$$ in various banking stocks, and up anywhere from 50%-100% on my portfolio. Got Citi at $1. Granted I made some mistakes too, but overall I'm up! Get some of the banking stocks. I think Citi is a good buy (hopefully not a goodbye). But neah, I think it will be around. Just my 2 cents. Now I wish I invested more than chump change. Nothing that will let me retire, but...could have, should have, but I didn't.

[MistressStevie]

Over time, this is still a buying opportunity. Traditional winners are on FireSale and over time, they will have to
perform. Now, if that is a year out or ten, I cannot say. But, it is time
to buy. If I pick enough winners, the day job is gone and it is fantasy
life style time!!! -mS

[MistressStevie]

Originally Posted by MistressStevie

Over time, this is still a buying opportunity. Traditional winners are on FireSale and over time, they will have to
perform. Now, if that is a year out or ten, I cannot say. But, it is time
to buy. If I pick enough winners, the day job is gone and it is fantasy
life style time!!! -mS

Well since 2009 my primary account is up several fold. My working account is breaking even, but I use that one for buying cars and houses so it may be considered working capitol.

Keep buying!

-mS