Blog

Simply followed another member into this with a v small shareholding. Liquidity was v poor so just wanted to see how it goes....

I have been watching GOOG for some time. With the price contiunuing to dip below $500 on forward revenue expectations it continues to look like a great bet

I have bought in to some and lets see what happens. Probably won't hold very long just given my lack of medium term confidence. Much as I hate to do it as the advertising market is definitely going to set back and any negative indicators will hit Google hardest. Still it looks to have been very much factored into the price already....

Thought this post on Seeking Alpha was kind of interesting in mondays 'under the radar'

Analysts say Japan may be sitting on a mountain of sub-prime debt that they have yet to admit. Seen by some as the 'next shoe to drop,' estimates are Japan may be sitting on close to $300 billion in mortgage-related debt, trumping the $130 billion or so admitted by U.S. firms. A possible harbinger of things to come, the iTraxx index, which measures the default risk of 50 Japanese companies, jumped to 77.5 Thursday, its biggest-ever one day move.

Another day of watching and waiting. Not clear what actually waiting for but may be time to make some bold decisions.

I have been holding EBAY way too long. It is probably time to sell - cut losses and move into something with greater growth potential. It still feels like EBAY break up value is there for someone like Amazon but who knows what or when. They are definitely pushing hard to encourage sellers with reduced fees.I would recommend anyone buy if i sell - cos that is when we will see the upward movement....

So it is the end of the week and what have I really achieved in my trades? Been watching EBay stay fairly static and thinking about other opportunities. YHOO has kept its price and be interesting to see where it goes. Looking otherwise for good ideas

Still thinking of moving cash into US real estate. THe dollar keeps strengthening which makes the one off conversion of cash painful and hard to predict its direction. Probably depends on the outcome of the elections in November as to whether there is a decision to shore up the dollar.

Google is another possible buy but still have nagging doubts about the impact of hard times in online advertising. Expect it to go back up but not a long term hold.

Any recommendations very welcome here. Sure things only please...:-)

So the markets have just opened and again everything I am following is down. APWR still on its way south as is EBay and the other big tech opportunities. They have to hit a bottom at some point, particualrly GooG but with advertising likely to continue to be depressed the markets will stay jittery.

It is probably a day for watching and waiting. Little exciting movement - plan to trade into things when see them come up and practice a little discipline.

So Tims big stock pick today was APWR and i decided to give it a shot. Risky trading into something io have no clue about but he suggested it was a good one so I am going to give it a try

I think by the time i had got in he was already out but I am still going to stand firm. Going with blind faith - surely not a good plan....

I have been watching Yahoo for days. Watching watching. I knew that getting rid of employees and poor results was going to lead to an offer. I knew it. I was waiting for the bottom. I can't believe how often i told me so. I used to work at Microsoft. They have always wanted Yahoo. I could feel it. I didn't buy..

So what is the learning for me? Go with my instincts. Don't be greedy. If something looks right then it probably is. 2 in 3 times it may not be but as a short term risk this has to be one worth taking. Yhoo has a huge amount of ad inventory, is cateogry killer in a number of verticals like finance, and it has been poorly undersold. Their employees per $1m revenue is incerdibly low vs other tech giants.

There had to be a shakeout. I should follow my gut - the proportion of time it is right will more than offset the times when it isn't

Now that we have this great new functionality I am going to start posting properly about my investment activity

At the moment I am largely long in EBAY and am just sitting watching it continuously go down. The bad news seems a bit endess and new management doesn't seem to be impressing the analysts.

Have also depressingly been watching ETFC since its low point a few days ago. Advised one of our colleagues to exit his postion at 2.76, as many members on the site were shorting, and now the stock is trading above 4 dollars.

I am out of my mutual funds and mostly just sitting in cash right now. Desperate for new ideas to recoup some of the losses -any thought of where to look v welcome...

Also used to own stock in WH Smith when hit a £6 high in the UK. Lagged and rationalised their business but could still be a good buy as retail undervalued...