Would someone please let me off this boat? Over the course of the past 6 days, the stock market has experienced moves up and down of 400 pts or more...this, by stock market definition, is called volatility. I am of the opinion that the markets are acting in such a sporadic manner because institutional investors and hedge funds (pools of big money) are trying to reposition their portfolio's so that they can stem any further losses in the markets...to say the least, many money managers and investors are confused as to the direction stocks are moving.
I for one, and as I've previously said, believe that the downward spiral that has taken place over the past 2 weeks might soon cease. While I certainly don't expect "smooth sailing", I do think that the worst is behind us. I by no means am suggesting that now is the time to jump full fledged into stocks, but I am starting to move small amounts of money into stocks as they go on sale and present value.
- On a different note, a prominent investor named Carl Icahn recently came out and offered to buy the company Clorox (which is a consumer products company was we all know) for $80/share. This news was lost in the massive selloff that has taken place over the past several weeks, and because of such the stock has traded from $77/share down to $67. If the board were to approve the takeover, the transaction would represent a 19% return from where the stock is currently trading. The only problem with buying a high dollar stock such as Clorox is that most investors can't "afford" to buy the stock because it's so expensive...food for thought.
