I wasn't replying to that I was replying to your comment about distrusting the American market

And yes of course if you're investing long term...well...my policy is to stick my retirement money in a high risk investment and then not watch it I evaluate it once a year, but otherwise pretend it doesn't exist...much less stress (if the markets are doing poorly) that way And you're right...most people make the mistake of pulling out because it's not performing well. Long term investing is often about playing the average, not about there here and nows.

yeah US market is only for long term...if you're guna do short term in us market..you're a dumass to put it lightly

Torture i have no other choice fro the contest i have to play on NYSE no other market ..which is unfortunate but well what can ya do

and yeah like i'm buying lots of companies that are in agricultral foods...reason being there going up after being at a low... and any food company that makes cheap foods is guna get it's benefits due to the recesion ...that's why i invested in Kraft foods...which has so far gained me over $300 in 3 days .... i know it's stupid sense but it paid =S

and the other companies i invested in were based on what warren buffet invested in ...that's another reason i invested in kraft

...so any suggestions out there ---i sold all my oil shares...i got around 80-100 of them..and thought i wouldn't prlly get any more for some time...so i thought i'd get my profit now and then buy when they go low again

a pitty. there is countless opportunities to be taken on the asx (Australian Stock Exchange) but with only a limited amount of $$ and a limited amount of time - being a student.... I must only concentrate on the ones i feel to be the most beneficial and not able to take all the opportunities that are available.

id say the investments to look for would be towards Silver..

silver mining companies etc

decent idea with the cheap food, as the recession should prove beneficial no doubt.

hmmmm coke ....

i would imagine it to be a steady rate....

they market their product so well, i mean what is it ? shit and yet we all seem to have purchased it at some point

but what about their failures ??

coke sours, rasberry, vanilla coke etc ?

they lost huge amount of $$ when they tried to bring that in.

very powerful brand, apparanetly the brand "Coca Cola"
was worth 300million or 300billion .... ? quite amazing really for what it is.

Coke is it

I think it is still true what Heinlein said in "Stranger in a Strange Land":  "Big money isn't hard to come by. All it costs is a lifetime of devotion. But no ballerina ever works harder. "

would you recommend anything specific BW??

please do

lol..thanks for that advice avo

i have like 4 account open...i'm just investing un-sensibly

i was up $600 yesterday...now down $720

thats a very risky way to invest..

How long is the game going to run ?  3 months ?
I only have two legit plays.

Norsat International.   NSATF.  Canadian firm, shows a profit, high PE, but it has good write up.  Tech, Sat equip.

Wet Seal  ...........WTSLA  reported above earnings est.  PE of 14.   Special Apparel

Both are up, but have potential to go further.

but, hey.....they are only very small portion of my portfolio.  They are my research, and what I consider a gamble.
Both are profitable, low debt companies.

I dunno what you guys mean about US market being lousy for the short term, you mean it doesnt pay as well as other countries?

Yes activity means amount of trading

In usa a publicly traded stock is compelled to publish regular reports of debt, assets and liabilities and business growth or decline. Warren Buffet got rich and stayed rich because he does the gruntwork digging through that stuff while understanding global political economy trends like inflation and oil and credit availability. He founded Berkshire Hathaway so he could cash in on others' trust of his abilities.

Three things drive the value of a stock or future:

Consumer demand for the product or service
Ability or competence of the entity to meet that demand
Popularity of that entity among investors

That last one is the hardest to measure. Bear Stearns did a loopdeloop because everybody hated it and then realized it might not be that bad. Enron was a scam but beloved.

You can't do or buy the full-time research needed for professional investment but what you can do as a student is get back copies of your local paper for a month or two and check stock prices. That's how we did that assignment when I was in high school and my pals won a lobster dinner from the prof.

after all the financials, and reports, and analysis, it comes down to one thing.

Faith.  Faith that the company will do well....and everyone thinking it will do well at the same time, by buying shares. 
Demand for a stock drives up its price.

If you have no faith in a company, no matter what the research, it tanks.

There are companies, sound companies that get hammered in the market, because of bad news it its sector.

Case in point was the tech/.com crash for you young'uns.  The BioTech crash before that.  Recently, the run banks and Mortgage companies.

Sure, some deserve to have their doors closed.  Others, just fall w/the sector.

Faith.

For extra credit have BW write you a snotty letter demanding his commission

It should be mentioned that 99% of people who lose $ on the NYSE trusted a New Yorker at some point