Free Articles, Free Web Content, Reprint Articles
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
 
Free Articles, Free Web Content, Reprint ArticlesRegisterAll CategoriesTop AuthorsSubmit Article (Article Submission)ContactSubscribe Free Articles, Free Web Content, Reprint Articles
ADVERTISEMENTS
 

Stock Market Temptation, by Michael Lombardi, CFP, MBA


The floodgates of help from the government continue to open in the United States. It's now believed that Congress wants to use the remaining $350 billion of the $700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program ("TARP") to reduce interest rates on consumer mortgages and to forgive some mortgage principal.

As we all know, the majority of the first half of the TARP bailout went to boost the capital bases of banks. Now, Congress wants to put the focus on helping consumers that are in jeopardy of losing their homes.

In modern history, the actions of the Federal Reserve have worked well to bail out the economy when it looked poised for recession. After the tech bubble of 1999, the Fed was successful in maneuvering monetary policy to thwart a damaging recession. Similarly, after the terrorist attacks of 2001, the Fed was again very successful at saving the economy from a severe downturn.

The current economic crisis, for the variety of reasons you have read in this column over the year, is more severe than the tech bubble or the terrorist attacks. And the question becomes: Can the Fed, using all the tools available to it, get us out of this recession or will the Fed's actions become futile, and the downward spiral of deflation and near depression continue for years...just like it did in Japan?

President-elect Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisors is now expecting three to four million more American jobs lost in 2009. Hence, they are working on an even more ambitious stimulus package. In my belief, at one point, all the efforts of the Fed and government will kick in to jump-start the economy. But it will not happen overnight. Given the length of the economic boom the U.S. experienced, the contraction will be long.

The stock market, as a leading indicator, does not seem concerned at the moment about the three to four million more job losses that the Obama team expects in 2009 and the eventual economic impact. Has the stock market already discounted the worst? It's also very promising that the Dow Jones Industrial has yet to break below its 2002 low. After all, aren't these economic times a lot worse than what we saw in 2002?

There is a great temptation for contrarians these days -- the temptation to jump into the stock market with both feet. For me, it is still too early to call the bottom of the stock market. In fact, we could be in classical bear market trap.

For the benefit of my readers, I continue to study every detail of the stock market's action, looking for clues as to where we are headed. Great fortunes will be made in this recession by buying at the bottom -- that goes for the stock market and real estate. The key is determining when that bottom is here. And that's something I'm working on every day for my readers.

---

Profit Confidential

---

http://www.profitconfidential.com/

LOMBARDI PUBLISHING CORPORATION
News, Analysis, and Information Services Since 1986.
One Million Customers in 141 Countries.

Lombardi Publishing Corporation
Financial Publications Division
350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3304
New York, NY 10118-3304

---

Copyright 2008; Lombardi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved. No part of this e-newsletter may be used or reproduced in any manner or means, including print, electronic, mechanical,or by any information storage and retrieval system whatsoeverFree Articles,without written permission from the copyright holder.


Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Michael Lombardi, CFP, MBA, bought his first stock when he was 17 years old. He quickly saw $2,000 of savings from summer jobs turn into $1,000. Determined not to lose money again on a stock, Michael started researching the market intensely,  taking every course he could afford. It didn’t take long for Michael to start making money with stocks, and that led Michael to launch a newsletter on the stock market. Today, Michael only employs the top market analysts and editors. Some of our recommendations have posted gains in excess of 500%! Michael has authored and published over one thousand articles on investment and money management.



Health
Business
Finance
Travel
Home Repair
Technology
Computers
Family
Communication
Entertainment
Autos
Marketing
Self Help
Sports
Home Business
Education
ECommerce
Law
Other
Internet
Partners


Page loaded in 0.095 seconds