A friend recently sold half his stocks. He’s a successful businessman, with a business he can control. He finds the present market too frustrating, totally out of his control.
When his broker objected to his blanket, “Sell Half,” order, he said “Just do it.” (He’s right, so far.)
Maybe he should have sold all his stocks? That’s the question I was wrestling with on Monday. Click here.
I wrote that blog before I learned that China devalued its currency and seriously hurt our markets. (So much for being able to predict anything.)
Reasons why China devalued:
1. China’s exports are flagging. Making them cheaper makes them more attractive.
2. The Yuan is allegedly overvalued. Making it cheaper may actually make it more of a world currency.
3. There are still 600 million Chinese who haven’t benefited by the economic boom of the last 30 or so years. They are a huge potential firestorm, a threat to the present Communist leadership’s hold on power. A “Chinese Spring” would not produce 600 million happy campers. Been there, done that. Didn’t work.
From MarketWatch this morning:
Deutsche Bank is predicting the yuan (the Chinese currency) is overvalued by around 10%, so if the yuan continues to weaken, things could yet get a lot darker for markets. And stocks aren’t dealing well with the new China reality they’ve seen so far.
On Monday I wrote that I was mulling selling all my stocks. I didn’t. I sold some. I should have sold more on Monday when it was up strongly.
Today we have opened with another awful day, down nearly 200 points on the Dow, with Apple leading the charge down. Apple has recently gotten heavy bad press.
My temptation is to let my stop losses (now set at 10%) take care of selling more stocks.
The key is to examine each stock carefully. Do I want to hold it long-term? Apple remains the BIG QUESTION. I sold a thousand this morning.
A friend’s boss used to say, “Be a sailor. Don’t fall in love.”
I suspect this heavy selling will abate in a day or two, allowing us to sell more stocks at higher prices.
It’s not a good idea to sell into a sharply declining market. If you do, you often find you sold at a price lower than the stock closed that day at.
S&P warns on Berkshire Hathaway. S&P put Berkshire Hathaway on credit watch negative after its acquisition of Precision Castparts. S&P said the warning “reflects uncertainty around the funding of the acquisition and how it may affect current cash resources and leverage metrics at the holding-company level.” On Monday, Berkshire acquired Precision for $37.2 billion and the assumption of roughly $5 billion in debt.
Berkshire has been doing horribly recently. here’s year to date. It’s down strongly this morning.
Two shorts that make sense. I have great difficulty seeing anything sensible either of these two companies is doing. Dumb. Dumb.
Tinder is a dating app for millennials. It’s changed dating the way Amazon changed retailing. Read about it in a fascinating piece called “Tinder and the Dawn of the “Dating Apocalypse” in this month’s Vanity Fair.
Click here.
The insanity of medical bills. In the old days my doctor removed my ear wax for $70. That procedure took three minutes.
Now I’m on Medicare, he bills Medicare $910, of which Medicare paid $234.39. And I’m expected to pay $59.80.
I don’t make this stuff up. I have the bill.
The wax-cleaning procedure still takes three minutes. And it’s still the best medical procedure I have.
But $910?
Favorite recent New Yorker cartoons:
Harry Newton who doesn’t like watching his net worth decline. How do you make a small fortune? Start with a large one. Not funny! It’s a pleasure being on a fast Internet connection. From http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ this morning:
Who voted this clown into office? Gov’t running our medical world is insanity and will drive costs up and doctors out. Oh, we’re already seeing that and it’s just beginning. Much worse ahead. The”wonderful free” medical systems we keep hearing about in Canada and the UK and such are BS, pure unadulterated BS. Our systems provides far better coverage at what was decent prices. Find me a well off Canadian or Englishmen who stays in their country for major surgery. Doesn’t happen.
Who voted this jerk and clown into office anyway?
I’m British and of course our system has issues; however I’ve never heard of anyone being deprived of critical care or being bankrupted by medical bills. The NHS has always done right by my family, friends and I. By contrast, my first 3 months living in the USA I was hit for just over $10,000 for 2 emergency room visits. My company medical cover didn’t kick in until I was employed 6 months (They assume you have COBRA cover)
When I was self-employed in 2010, My coverage cost $1,300 per month for 2 adults and a child. That’s about 30% of your national average wage….and far beyond those who just miss out on Medicade / Medicare. The USA was the last developed country to get national healthcare (IIRC). Are you so arrogant you think the USA was the one who was right all along?
That sounds like a lot of money to have a gerbil removed from your ass, must have been way up there. If the U fuckin K is so great why the fuck are you in the USA?
Hahah. I left the USA in 2010. The gerbil wanted a vacation. Haven’t been back since. The land of the free (to ignorantly run your mouth off apparently)
Next troll feeding 3pm EST
Listen to this asshole. The only reason you Euro-socialists can live any type of reasonable life style is because the US tax payers Marshall Planned your way back into existiance and have footed the bill for your military protection ever since. Meanwhile you lazy ass Brits take the summer off while we work our asses off. Your socialist dream is finally and quickly coming to an end. It’s going to fun watching the UK and the rest of Europe deal with the tremendous amount of unrest your unemployed and insane youth are going to deliver to your streets. Oh, and by the way pay no attention to those Muslims who are overrunning your communities. I can’t wait to see the coverage on FOX.
Here’s a tip, we’re not French.
Here’s another tip, gerbil extraction was expensive…but you’re going to need a second mortgage to get your head pried free of your obese ass….if you could even get it out of your recliner and off to a hospital.
It is going to be absolutely hilarious watching you Brits scramble to save your useless souls as you come to the realization that Churchill and Thatcher were by far the two smartest minds to ever occupy 10 Downing Street.
Finally something you say makes sense. Maybe your not a complete c@#twhistle after all.
If you didn’t know Harry not only voted for our socialist president and supported him with $$$, but went door to door with his wife in Pennsylvania encouraging others to do the same. I told him then that “their aint no fool like an old fool”….just to prove his point Harry then went on to vote for NYC Mayor “Billy De” so allow me to once again to voice my opinion of Harry……AIN’T NO FOOL LIKE AN OLD FOOL!!!
Oh, and by the way Harry are still under the belief that Jon Corzine is innocent?……probably
For the record, RWReagan, whoever he is, makes up a lot of stuff — even more than I do.
Such as?
As the crickets chirp……
“All that glitters is gold.” to misquote Bill S……. Would Macy’s have made their numbers if they kept the Donald’s clothing line?….. check out Chinatown for earwax removal, they’re experts at that procedure going back thousands of years.
A commentator on the BBC was puzzled as to why the US Stock Market was all in a tizzy about China allowing their currency to “float a little”. She observed, “The Euro is down 20% to the dollar over a year and no one seems to much care.” Indeed…