Stocks and buying them

I asked this on another thread, but has anyone dropped a chunk of their 401K in European market funds? Is that in general good right now? Short term, long term?

 

As already posted on here: you will lose it all!

Take it from a guy who bought K-Mart and Worldcom/MCI. I was banking on Worldcom getting a bailout.

 

GM will declare Chapter 11 and reorganize at some point.

Regarding that stock's value, consider my mistake. A few years ago I had a chance to buy 100 shares of stock in a computer company at just over $7 per share. At the time, most pundits were dead certain that computer company's time had passed and it was going to go under in a few years, so I passed.

Apple Computer (AAPL) is now worth over $170 per share. :-\

 

Who knew? It wasn't the computers that bailed them out.

 

GM isn't going bankrupt. Their overseas holdings -- where they are making money hand over fist -- will ensure that.

That said, guess what is going to be used as collateral for whatever financial lifeline GM is in the process of lining up? Ragu's dead-on here; I wouldn't touch GM with your money.

Regarding the financials, there are two I'd consider. The first is US Bank, which got beat up along with every other bank, despite the fact it doesn't have much -- if any -- subprime debt. It's trading in the high 20s, pays a good dividend and is more solid than some of its larger rivals.

And yes, I own this in my Roth IRA.

The second is more speculative: Citigroup. There's a reason its trading in the mid-teens now -- things are a mess there and everyone's waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But unlike the car manufacturers, Citi isn't going under anytime in our lifetime. There's mongo assets there and Vikram Pandit, the new CEO, actually seems like he has a clue.

 

I've been following CX for a while. I like that and am seriously considering it for my IRA.

POT has had a huge run already. I don't know much about MKL and you could do worse -- and better than AmEx in the financials.

 

I just got back from a meeting with my broker. He is moving shit away from GM and has been doing so all week. That's good enough for me.

 

Wachovia has gone from $15.65 at this post to $11.73 today - a 25% loss. And its still a POS stock today at this price.

 

I would sooner be in gold or some other tangible asset. Remember, with stocks you are relying on information from the seller, so you get what you pay for.

Best of luck, though.

 

What is Tribune Co. trading at these days?

 

Wall Street is legalized gambling. Not that there's anything wrong with that.