The market volatility continues
January 28, 2008
Wall Street ended a volatile week on Friday with a
sharp decline, following two days of stunning gains leading investors to turn
cautious and cash in some of their winnings. While U.S. markets were closed
Monday for Martin Luther King Day, stocks in Asia and Europe plunged due to
fears of a steep slowdown in the U.S. economy.
Overseas, European indexes such as Britain's FTSE index, Germany's DAX and
France's CAC fell a few percentage points as well. Japan's Nikkei stock average
jumped about 4 percent after falling sharply earlier in the week. The Hong
Kong's Hang Seng index also surged almost 7 percent by Friday’s closing time.
To decrease sell-off in the U.S. over recession fears, the Fed stepped in before
the opening bell Tuesday with an emergency interest rate cut of 0.75%. The Fed
is widely expected to cut rates again by a half-point next week. Despite these
wide cuts, it is still hard to forecast where the
stock market is headed to in the
next few weeks.
Yalicoo competitions summary
After the portfolios of most competitors declined
during Tuesday's session, many of the players took advantage of the market’s
volatility and picked winning stocks that boosted their returns. BanderaS
(14.99%), the winner of the
weekly competition, was among these successful
traders. One of BanderaS's rocket picks was CompuCredit Corporation (CCRT),
which offers credit products to sub-prime consumers. The stock surged 45% in
only 4 days, possibly due to substantial buys by a relatively large
institutional buyer.
Another interesting winner from BanderaS's portfolio is the personal navigation
device maker Garmin Ltd. (GRMN), which rose sharply after an Oppenheimer & Co.
analyst upgraded the company, saying its products remain popular and that the
threats of weaker sales and greater competition are already included in the
stock price.
Chanon (19.72%) opened a large gap between himself and all the other players in
the
monthly competition as the game entered its final week. Amazingly, chanon
has succeeded to “stay dry” between the market drops and sold 18 out of his 22
stocks during the week with a positive gain. chanon's current portfolio has no
stocks; suggesting that chanon is preparing for a possible drop when the market
opens on Monday and maybe new winners.
There is only one week left in January; mathgeek (11.54%), 12345 (8.11%) and a
few others are still in the game and have a chance to improve their ranks on the
scoreboard.
The situation in the
quarterly competition is totally different as the spread
between the leaders is not large. The current scoreboard is populated by SANMAN
(9.27%), chanon (7.91%) – the
monthly competition leader, and Lindsey (5.67%).
If we consider the relatively small gap between the leaders, combined with this
week's expected market volatility, I wouldn’t be surprised to see new faces on
next week's scoreboard. Those who participate in the quarterly and weekly
competitions should follow the competition closely for new opportunities.
Keep on reading:
Stock Trading
Investing strategies
Can anyone produce a
return of 7.35% in one day?
Which
competition to choose
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