I added to my bearish position on this one this morning. They're still losing money, but they lost a little less than the street expected. They were actually as much as 8% higher than they are now yesterday afternoon after the close during the earnings call. No doubt there was lots of shortterm short-covering going on. Money aside, emotionally I want to see JCP survive - I hate seeing these great American retailers fail these days. My hair stylist works for the local JCP salon, and I like going inside their nice store and buying casual wear pretty cheap. I'd hate to see more people put out of work, especially local people I know personally who work there. But when I look at it objectively, I'd be very pleasantly surprised if they survive much longer, and I'd be shocked if I lost money on the puts I bought when the stock was nearly double what it is now. Whether bullish or bearish, this is a speculative one at this point. Not something I'd have a huge amount of $ in, and definitely not something very many people see as stable or relatively safe these days. Someone looking for relative safety (if not necessarily a whole lot in the way of growth anytime soon) in retail these days would be better off with good old WalMart. In fact Buffett just upped his position with them. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/buffett-buys-into-verizon-reduces-gm-stake-2014-05-15
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I am going to take some of my online earnings and invest them. I will deffinately go with Microsoft as one of them as I have received so many good reviews. Do I go to the Microsoft site or do I have to purchase from another website?
If you want more of a conservative investment, I agree with the others above, go a large reliable corporation like Microsoft. If you want something with high risks, try penny stocks. They are more stressful to deal with but you can make money with them with only a small investment.
Do we have a bunch of people who work for Microsoft here or what? Sheesh! Pretty funny to see such a consensus among the board. What's worked for me is what JREwing suggested in one of his earlier posts of relying on a firm or someone else to invest your money for you. That way, you're getting knowledge about the market from the investments that person makes and you're far more likely to keep your initial investment.
Microsoft! I just bought some of their stock and it keeps rising! It has some lowering points (they all do), but if you have enough, go invest alot into it!
As with anything, learn the art before diving in. Diversification is what will lead to gains in the future. Going with 'safe' options is fine, but this is for the long haul. They will not rise quickly and you will have to sit it out until the stock starts rising. This is why it is best to go with a few short-term gainers and then those safer options to secure your financial future. P&G has always been the 'go to' option for those who want to stay safe. After all, those products they sell will always be sold regardless of what is happening to the market.
I found that odd as well, especially since you always hear a lot about Apple and don't really think of Microsoft as much, I guess they are the silent earners
Microsoft has been going strong for over 20 years now, so it's not too much of a surprise to me to see the number of people (myself included) endorsing them on the board. Even after Bill Gates' departure, with the neurotic Ballmer at the helm, they have done well for themselves. Now, with Nadella, they may rise to greater heights, hence the support.
Yeah, Microsoft tends to be the highest known for people due to it because of its length and reliable and past history. And since most new comers are probably looking for a good investment that is also short team, it is also appealing.
Don't put too much in there. Treat it like gambling, only play with money you can afford to lose. If a stock you liked goes down, look at the fundamentals again, and if they're not too bad, buy more of it preferably the same dollar value that you originally bought, so it will be more shares. I read about that method when my 500 shares of NOK went down to $1.77 or so, so then I bought 800 shares. Those shares were already up quite a bit when MicroSoft bought Nokia's device unit. But that method doesn't always work, don't do it if a company has a lot of bad vibes online. I bought IMGG on the advice of my brother-in-law's nephew. It plummeted, and then I rechecked the word online, and people were excoriating the CEO, so I didn't buy more and I'm only down $1000 on that one. I never sell when a stock goes down, and with the exception of IMGG, I've never been disappointed, they always go back up unless you pick one that goes bankrupt. In a wishy washy market the way it has been for some time, I like to just pick a few stocks, get familiar with them, and then buy low and sell high. Stocks have been fluctuating a lot, and if you keep up with what makes them fluctuate, you can make more money than just holding. Even stocks that are worth holding are also worth buying and selling. I recently made money with CSCO, because I bought it at $19 on the advice of Motley Fool or something like that. I was all about holding it when it went up to $26, but then they laid off a bunch of people and it tanked, so I sold at $24 for a nice profit. But then as long as I buy it back for less than I sold it for, I can keep on the train as it recovers and continues to rise. I'm sure people will tell me I'm doing it all wrong. Everybody's got an opinion.
