Anyone know if this company - https://www.missguidedus.com/ - is part of any public company? They're being attacked by SJWs and if they go all ProteinWorld on them, I'll buy. If they go all American Apparel, I'll stay out.

Just a curious question from a complete newbie.

I've noticed the stock market takes a bit of a dive at the end of the year due to uncertainty. Looking at numerous websites and the stocks I see a lot of red numbers, which in itself is no bad thing I must admit. Unless you follow the numbers every minute.

- Would it be prudent to buy stocks now and then see them rise as the new year sets in?

Quote: (12-04-2015 08:02 AM)Foolsgo1d Wrote:  

Just a curious question from a complete newbie.

I've noticed the stock market takes a bit of a dive at the end of the year due to uncertainty. Looking at numerous websites and the stocks I see a lot of red numbers, which in itself is no bad thing I must admit. Unless you follow the numbers every minute.

- Would it be prudent to buy stocks now and then see them rise as the new year sets in?

Normally the churn we see at the end of the year is the result of people selling to harvest a capital loss before the tax year ends. Whether or not we will see a sustained downturn is left to be seen. I'll defer to people who are more experienced at predictions.

Interesting: gold and silver are soaring with an interest rate increase on deck (US) and Mario not unleashing as much money as everyone hoped (EU). In fact, the Dollar is also up with precious metals.

Very odd.

I had a feeling Gold would spike, it's on an 8-yr low and with all the market volatility, global uncertainty and inflation it seems like it's ripe for another boom. I got back in a few days ago at just over $1000, $1050/oz.

Quote: (12-04-2015 01:24 PM)DamienCasanova Wrote:  

I had a feeling Gold would spike, it's on an 8-yr low and with all the market volatility, global uncertainty and inflation it seems like it's ripe for another boom. I got back in a few days ago at just over $1000, $1050/oz.

how are you playing it? how did you get in just over a $1000 an oz?

Well I've got several ozs that I bought back in the early 00's, when the price was well under $1000. I was buying like crazy when it was $600-800 an oz, and have been sitting on it since then. This week I just felt we hit the bottom so I went to my local gold/silver coin store and bought an oz for about $1050 on wednesday. The coin I got had a bit of a premium over spot, but I like the added collectibility of high quality graded gold coins. I'm not into gold futures or mining stocks or anything, I just like to buy physical gold, cash in hand.

Quote: (12-04-2015 04:34 PM)DamienCasanova Wrote:  

Well I've got several ozs that I bought back in the early 00's, when the price was well under $1000. I was buying like crazy when it was $600-800 an oz, and have been sitting on it since then. This week I just felt we hit the bottom so I went to my local gold/silver coin store and bought an oz for about $1050 on wednesday. The coin I got had a bit of a premium over spot, but I like the added collectibility of high quality graded gold coins. I'm not into gold futures or mining stocks or anything, I just like to buy physical gold, cash in hand.

I would like to know what coin dealer sells gold coins at basically spot price?

were these coins .999 fine?

I have been buying gold for years and the last time i paid anywhere near 1050 would have been around mid 2009

Well yeah total it was about 1100 for the coin, but I was just saying I jumped on it when I saw gold was at $1050/oz. It was a Gold Eagle/Liberty. It's not as fine as Canada's .9999 gold, but it's still pretty close.

Usually it's around $50 over spot, or as low as $35/oz for certain coins. Well Gold jumped $25 today, wonder what it will do next week.

Quote: (11-30-2015 01:18 PM)britchard Wrote:  

1. Very quick one here, what is the best website for comparing all types of mutual funds, which isn't jargon heavy and contains only mutual funds, not ETFs, shorts or stocks.

2. Which type of fund is best out of money market, bond, and growth? I have about $1000/£700 I can invest, which type is best for that. I'd also like it to be a fund that I can just leave, I don't care too much about high returns.

3. Does it matter that I'm UK based, can I still buy US mutual funds just as easily?

4. Any straight out, reasonably safe recommendations of mutual funds?

1.) http://www.morningstar.com/funds.html

Really any site does the same job.

2.)Based on what you typed above, the bond fund.

3.)No difference.

@Damien: Just curious, what attracts you to physical? I have physical as well, but those were 1 off gifts. I have friends that are goldbugs and I understand the whole argument about inflation, stored value etc, but am wondering on your particular angle.

What compels you to take physical at a premium over paper?

Quote: (12-04-2015 10:05 PM)jj90 Wrote:  

@Damien: Just curious, what attracts you to physical? I have physical as well, but those were 1 off gifts. I have friends that are goldbugs and I understand the whole argument about inflation, stored value etc, but am wondering on your particular angle.

What compels you to take physical at a premium over paper?

Well I just like to collect coins as a hobby anyway, I've got a ton of old, new, foreign and all kinds of coins from around the world so the collectability makes it more fun to have physical gold coins for me.

I'm not really buying gold coins to re-sell them short term either, not like I would with buying paper like you're saying. I'm buying it to hold for a long time and as a long-term insurance and hedge against inflation. Plus I like the freedom of having gold in hand, where I could put it in my pocket and go anywhere in the world with it and cash it in if I ever really needed to.

You know the old saying, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Sold TCK.B on TSX and CBD on NY. -41% on teck, -20% on CBD. Perhaps I'll revisit Teck at like $3/share. Teck is in better shape balance sheet wise than in '09 but with this commodity grind lower, it's hard to justify losing positions.

Bought CMG at 538.5.

With the market being so shaky, and the fed probably raising interest rates next week, I'm going to put most of my portfolio into less risky investments like MMAs, IRAs & precious metals for the time being. Maybe even up until after next years election. It seems to me like a very similar scenario to 2008 is brewing right now, with a market crash coming for a few sectors simultaneously right before the election. There's another huge housing bubble, the healthcare industry is out of control, there's a huge glut of oil and stocks and mutual funds are paying shit (and losing tons of money) right now. I'll be clutching my gold coins and hibernating for the coming bear market.

Any other opinions or ideas on the state of the market and investment strategies for the time being?

Let's assume that the markets are pricing in an interest rate increase and have priced in the ECB's disappointing depth of QE this last time, meaning things are going to get tighter. The USD and EURO have kind of bounced around and many people may flee to cash if things get too squishy.

What about bitcoin? According to Bitstamp, since December 1rst bitcoin is up almost one hundred dollars, and yet things have gotten "tighter" in December (from the ECB) with an expectation of more tightening from the Fed.

I don't know if this trend will continue, but if it does, it's over for central banks. If bitcoin rises, as things get tighter, it means a portion of the markets have given up on central banks. The Fed and ECB better hope any interest rate increase lowers the value of bitcoin; otherwise, they've lost a ton of power and a decentralized system is on deck.

Do you think USO which basically follows the price of oil would be a good investment? Oil won't be down this low forever.

@AWright: Depends. Short term sure. Long term no. Understand that USO as an ETF product is subject to contango/backwardation in the oil futures market, which is what USO really prices off of. As most of the time oil is in a term structure where the next month's price is lower than further out in time, and that USO holds front month futures, the roll differential is brutal. It is constantly buying high and selling low.

Hope you understand the above. If you want to buy oil for the longer term, look at equal weighted ETFs across months, or just buy oil stocks.

Out CMG @ 556.5 +3%. Not what I was looking for in gains but I'll take it. Better opportunities elsewhere.

Long UGAZ @ 1.52 50% of account. Here we go!

Quote: (12-14-2015 12:50 PM)jj90 Wrote:  

Out CMG @ 556.5 +3%. Not what I was looking for in gains but I'll take it. Better opportunities elsewhere.

Long UGAZ @ 1.52 50% of account. Here we go!

Is this just hoping to catch a rebound, or do see a recovery coming? I'm dating myself by typing this, but natural gas hasn't been this low in my entire life (hit $1.86).

Longer term, I wouldn't want to bet against the secular factors that dominate. In the shorter term, it looks as if the market is discounting this winter a little too heavily. I don't expect anything too much to the upside but we could see a poke towards $2.50 on NG if it comes in cold and/or macro factors impact(like oil).

TL;DR: rebound.

Vrx valeant.
The pharmaceutical company that dropped 51 percent over fraud allegations, hit a deal with Walgreens as a distributor and jumped 17% today.

Quote: (12-14-2015 12:50 PM)jj90 Wrote:  

Out CMG @ 556.5 +3%. Not what I was looking for in gains but I'll take it. Better opportunities elsewhere.

Long UGAZ @ 1.52 50% of account. Here we go!

I saw it as low as $1.79 today. How low can natural gas drop?

Quote: (12-14-2015 12:50 PM)jj90 Wrote:  

Out CMG @ 556.5 +3%. Not what I was looking for in gains but I'll take it. Better opportunities elsewhere.

Long UGAZ @ 1.52 50% of account. Here we go!

Do you have a stop set?

Quote: (12-15-2015 06:59 PM)BIGINJAPAN Wrote:  

Quote: (12-14-2015 12:50 PM)jj90 Wrote:  

Long UGAZ @ 1.52 50% of account. Here we go!

Do you have a stop set?

Yeah. 50% of account. Realistically, I'll be out long before that.

Quote: (12-16-2015 02:55 AM)jj90 Wrote:  

Quote: (12-15-2015 06:59 PM)BIGINJAPAN Wrote:  

Quote: (12-14-2015 12:50 PM)jj90 Wrote:  

Long UGAZ @ 1.52 50% of account. Here we go!

Do you have a stop set?

Yeah. 50% of account. Realistically, I'll be out long before that.

i'm not following? i read the post to mean you sunk 50% of your account into 1 stock.

is that not what you meant? So i wanted to know if you are using a stop and at what level did you set it at?