Wal Mart same store sales miss expectations

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aPXSSzu2fpqc&refer=home

3/8/2007 11:34:43 AM

Target did good. retail's a bit of a mixed bag right now. the competitive dynamics have more to do with than macroeconomic factors.

3/8/2007 2:49:12 PM

Quote :

"yeah, we're all down 5-10% on average."

I'm still up on the year

3/8/2007 4:09:41 PM

^yeah, i'm up on the year too.

and for all the people saying get out and put it in cash for a while (i beleive maniacal was the term), no, just sit down and hold on for the ride, empirical evidence shows that bailing out after corrections like this one will cost you the gains afterwards (i.e. you bail out last week and you miss Wed/Thu of this week)

3/8/2007 5:27:09 PM

^ there's truth to that.

my main reason to accumulate cash is to go in deeper with new stocks that i've been wanting to buy.

3/8/2007 5:44:49 PM

agreed

3/8/2007 6:16:30 PM

i'm only down about 3.5% - of course, a huge chunk of my gains are from option premiums

3/8/2007 7:04:28 PM

bought two days ago:

C
EBAY
GE
JNJ
CHTR
LVLT

3/8/2007 9:25:56 PM

yeah, GE is on sale, and it's a pretty safe bet, but it's a pretty safe bet you're not gonna make a lot of money on it, either.

3/9/2007 8:19:58 AM

I don't think GE is that bad...it has a ~3.25% dividend yield right now.

If the stock moves up a view points, you're looking at 5-6% gain. Not great, but not bad at all.

If the stock slides a few points, you're still in the black because of the dividends.

3/9/2007 10:14:59 AM

Quote :

"the competitive dynamics have more to do with than macroeconomic factors."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/306756_retailsales09.html

Quote :

"Another problem, Cohen said, is that fashion has become "too commoditized." This season's fashions -- 1960s mod looks such as baby doll tops and minidresses in geometric patterns -- are being offered everywhere at every price point, he noted. Not to mention that some experts doubt whether these looks will have broad-base appeal."

Are they kidding? The first time in 50 years that the American consumer hasn't selected what the industry has spoon fed them to select? Not saying it can't happen, I just tend to think this has more to do with it:

Quote :

"Retailers also are grappling with a slowing economy, particularly a weakening housing market, that could challenge shoppers in the months ahead. Ken Perkins, president of RetailMetrics LLC, a research company in Swampscott, Mass., said defaults and delinquencies in the mortgage industry -- coupled with the decline of mortgage equity withdrawals that give consumers extra cash -- could curtail spending."

3/9/2007 10:18:47 AM

there are some many conflicting reports that it is straight out funny

3/9/2007 11:14:33 AM

I'm glad I sold my STX when I did, at $27.27.
I'm still a little irked at GOOG though.

3/9/2007 1:39:32 PM

As a new investor what do you guys recommend as a good online brokerage service with cheap trades and little fees. I won't be investing a whole lot but I just want to get my foot in the door and get a good feel for how it all works

3/9/2007 3:23:43 PM

Id suggest reading through this thread.

its covered on nearly every page

3/9/2007 3:34:29 PM

scottrade.com

they have local offices and trading is $7 for stocks, $17 for mutual funds. i use them and fidelity.

PM if you have question. if you end up going with them let me know. both of us can get 3 free trades as part of referal program.

[Edited on March 9, 2007 at 3:35 PM. Reason : f]

3/9/2007 3:35:13 PM

For some reason I thought they didn't charge for mutual funds.

3/9/2007 3:43:47 PM

I'll just be trading stocks so the mutual fund aspect doesn't really matter

3/9/2007 3:45:04 PM

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3/9/2007 4:07:29 PM

I just realized that I'm rather heavy on VWO - the vipers emerging market fund.

Should I stay in or sell some off?

3/9/2007 4:18:24 PM

Define heavy.

3/9/2007 4:20:29 PM

~10%

as a rule i try not to put more than 5-7% in any single stock

on the plus side its up more than 20% since my initial buy in

3/9/2007 4:22:36 PM

Well, it is a mutual fund, not a stock. 10% isn't bad assuming you don't have a lot of funds with high exposure to emerging markets.

3/9/2007 4:31:45 PM

true.

i'll probably just put stops on half of it.

I also have a little bit of EWZ - which is specific to Brazil. It didn't take much of a hit over the past two weeks so I'll probably tuck it away for a while.

3/9/2007 4:40:35 PM

How do I see it's entire country exposure on Morningstar. All I can find is

Country Exposure % of Assets
South Korea 15.6
Taiwan 13.4
Hong Kong 11.4
Russian Federation 10.3
South Africa 9.0

3/9/2007 4:46:47 PM

anyone up for CREE? it's hovering around its 52-week low. It looks like a good pick especially after the deal with Raleigh.

3/11/2007 8:48:20 PM

^ i might, i'll definitely look at it tomorrow.

thanks for the heads up.

3/11/2007 9:19:52 PM

I'll definitely look into CREE.

3/12/2007 8:34:37 AM

damn shoulda bought CREE when the market opened

up 9% today

3/12/2007 12:36:49 PM

Eh, it's still cheaper than it was a while ago.

3/12/2007 1:21:06 PM

Walmart stock should report good numbers next quarter -- you know cause Carolina doesn't suck...

3/12/2007 5:41:51 PM

Well, someone on here mentioned CREE already, so I assumed it was on your radars already. I think I will buy it once I get rid of my ARTG stocks.

Edit: Shouldn't CREE's stock now adjust due to today's acquisition of the Chinese firm? I.e. should I wait longer before I should buy the stock?

[Edited on March 12, 2007 at 6:59 PM. Reason : .]

3/12/2007 6:56:50 PM

^yeah, that was me that mentioned CREE

unfortunately i punked out and didn't buy it.

3/12/2007 9:16:27 PM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6446193.stm

Apparently GOOG isn't really flinching on this news.

3/13/2007 9:26:35 AM

the only stock i'm considering before the end of the correction is TSO

3/13/2007 10:04:29 AM

JCG, T, and TRID are my only winners right now.

3/13/2007 11:35:19 AM

3/13/2007 2:45:25 PM

-243 points

3/13/2007 3:03:39 PM

I like how I made back half of the money that I lost a few weeks back

and then lost it again today!

3/13/2007 3:06:17 PM

but i got to buy some more shares of my mutual fund!

3/13/2007 5:44:08 PM

Wow...markets sucked today.
Although, I'm kinda excited about getting stocks for cheap whenever the correction goes lower.

3/13/2007 11:26:04 PM

Did Asia end up stinking as bad as it opened today?

3/14/2007 7:58:52 AM

http://www.sogoinvest.com

anyone heard anything about this online brokerage?

3/15/2007 1:55:54 PM

what to do with $$$ burning a hole in my pocket?

CTSH, SBUX, or HLT?

3/15/2007 5:23:03 PM

Send it to me!
I'm in the same situation--personally I'm going to wait a bit longer and see if the markets go any lower.

3/15/2007 5:27:26 PM

yeah, that's option "D". i might just do that--with three stocks i want to buy, i guess it's not that likely that i'll lose buying opportunities on all 3 of them if i wait a little longer. if i wait another month, i'll have enough $$ to be able to buy positions in 2 of them, anyway.

[Edited on March 15, 2007 at 5:31 PM. Reason : asfads]

3/15/2007 5:30:07 PM

start DCA'ing in?
low right now, timing is hard

3/15/2007 8:31:46 PM

yeah, but i hate to lose all the money on trading fees, even at $7 a pop with Scottrade. I put $400/month into my brokerage account (seperate from IRA full of index funds and a money market acct I have), and pretty much invest in ~$1000 blocks, so doing it a few hundred bucks at a time adds up in terms of trading costs.

I figure I don't have to time it perfectly--the plan is to buy in for at least a few years.

Oh, and I already have tiny positions in CTSH and HLT (~200 each) that I bought when I first started dabbling in individual stocks.

3/15/2007 9:09:25 PM

timing is hard indeed. a day like today makes you think the bottom is past/correction is over.

i don't think that's the case yet.

3/19/2007 10:45:46 AM

i've noticed lately that my portfolio is basically following exactly what the dji is doing in regards to percent gain or loss on a daily basis.

is this a sign that i'm too diversified and that my portfolio has turned into an index fund?

3/19/2007 4:20:36 PM