This stock market is so volatile

[icon124]

Man I so tired of tracking this market haha. Down 150ish until about 3pm and then all of a sudden it's closes up 96. Something isn't right here

If I wasn't forced to invest in the stock market I wouldn't even touch it. (Securities class makes me use our "funny money" only on stocks)

[Blythexo]

I was thinking the same thing? Plunge protection team? How can that happen on a regular basis without some serious manipulation....

[IChooseLiberty]

Man I so tired of tracking this market haha. Down 150ish until about 3pm and then all of a sudden it's closes up 96. Something isn't right here

If I wasn't forced to invest in the stock market I wouldn't even touch it. (Securities class makes me use our "funny money" only on stocks)

I don't think the volatility will last much longer.... It's only being sustained by investors thinking the markets have hit bottom and buying back in. Once investors lose complete confidence, they will sell off and the markets will drop like a rock. Commodities will then skyrocket.

[fx57]

Death throes

[Cleaner44]

Waiting with my inverse funds...

URPIX
USPIX

[icon124]

yeah, I know it can't last forever...but when I see the market dropping I get excited thinking they can't stop it now, and then someone comes along and bails them out YET AGAIN!

[theseus51]

I don't think it's "bailouts". That's the fed when they lower interest rates after continual falls. The day to day swings are just normal, and that's the way the stock market works. Stocks start falling for whatever reason, which creates a herd mentality, and triggers the hedge funds's computers to start dumping stocks. Then the contrarian investors (and hedge fund computers) see an opportunity to buy up the cheap stocks, so they do. Stocks start to go back up, then there's a herd mentality to start buying.

No one fund or person, or even group of people have enough capital to manipulate the entire market. The recent volatility is just a lot of confused, very paranoid investors, over reacting to things on the buy or sell side.

[icon124]

^then explain why the market went up when some bond company gets a bailout

[jonahtrainer]

No one fund or person, or even group of people have enough capital to manipulate the entire market.

There is one group that does have that much capital and it is the Plunge Protection Team or as they are officially known the President's Working Group on Financial Markets. Today is a textbook example of their intervention. They begin moving, news is released and the market turns around.

[theseus51]

I'm sorry, I don't know the specifics of that bailout. But you see swings all the time in the market, being way down, then way up, or vice versa. It usually takes some news to trigger it. But I still don't think there's any conspiracy, because why bail out the markets now, when it's down 100 points. Why not last month, when it was down like 1500? I mean any "group" of people trying to save the market obviously failed, and the "bailout" is too little too late, don't you think?

[scooter]

When the market is volatile like this, it's when the real shrewd investors make the most money. They'll come in when everyone is panicking, and be selling off just as everyone gets confident again.

I'm not a trader, but I am way up on most of my stock holdings because I buy every time the market has about 5-6 trading sessions down and is approaching new lows. I'm doing quite well on commodity stocks and even one banking stock (US Bank) that didn't get involved in the irresponsible lending like the ones that are about to fold.

I think we're going to have a pretty rough 2008, but I'm a very long term investor so I hope to pick up some good companies when they get cheap. Remember, if inflation gets pretty high some stocks will do well in the long run. The stock market has been pretty much the only inflation-beater over the last century.

[Carole]

Could this have anything to do with it?

Banks "quietly" borrow $50 billion from Fed: report
Tue Feb 19, 2008 5:47am EST
http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?...21384420080219