The Fiscal Cliff

[anthony]

Well, been doing some research on all this cliff whoo ha stuff, for the purpose of our little united game here... and it seems to me that the experts are getting nervous and selling out, holding out and well, sticking their money in safe places until its known how good, bad or otherwise all this stuff is going to be.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100305305
http://

The most important read of them all... key dates, which we are just about to hit and thus the market is already starting to get panicky...

Link Removed

 

[anthony]

It seems the day after Christmas is the real cliff itself...

* Dec. 26-31. If no deal has been reached by this time to raise the government's debt ceiling of $16.4 trillion, the U.S. Treasury Department will have to take "extraordinary measures" to put off possible default, as it has done before.

Pretty much seems to be the answer I have been searching for, for a while, of when we all know whether we're going into recession or not... which means stocks are going to shit.

Mmmmm... absolutely spewing that I am away during all this turmoil, because stocks will be bouncing of the floor and everyone around will be capitalising... nuts!

I'm going to donate to get some additional dollars if its all still worm food on my return...

 

[piratelady]

My guess is that they will reach a decision and compromise at the last minute. That seems to be the trend with this administration. There have been a few other times where something would go to crap if they didn't compromise and on the last possible day to make a decision they do. I'll bet my Points on it! I am staying invested in my safer stocks through all of this. :)

 

[Rumors]

Btw, yesterday they reported that all of the defense firms were trading strong in anticipation that the cliff will be avoided averting deep dept of defense budget cuts. Lockheed Martin was strong. Didn't check them today however.
Also, read up on the latest Obamacare findings. You will find that they passed 2000 pages of bill without reading it and as Nancy Pelosi said, "we need to pass it to find out what is in it!" Well guess what? They are finding out that there are all kinds of specialty taxes on medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, etc. There is even a per person tax to cover pre-existing conditions that is paid yearly for three years but can be extended. This would be on top of what you pay monthly. With that said, there are certain sectors of the medical field that are going nuts! Hip and Knee replacements will face a special tax per thousand of dollars. Dramatically, the companies are screaming how adversely this will effect the consumer but in essence, it will effect us all bc they will just pass this fee along which means that government run health care will just pay more which means we will pay more. It seems ludicrous! In any case, it is interesting!

Delta announced yesterday it was buying a portion of Southeast. It has caused some excitement there. Of course, tech stock has been on the uptick. However, the fiscal cliff is the next big hurdle. I think all of Washington should step up to the cliff and we should give them a good shove off!!! They all suck!

North Korea has missle range to the west coast, Iran has nuclear power, Middle east is in crisis, floods, fires, war, poverty, and tons of other stuff makes me feel like the fiscal cliff could be minor. Scary!

 

[anthony]

Yer, I'm sticking with what you mentioned the other day about pharmaceuticals. It seems most are on a downward trend, other than actual manufacturers themselves, which seem to be ok at present. I am seeing a lot of pharma companies in the 'most declined' type pages on stock market sites. So I guess what you're saying above has a lot of merit... because they don't seem to be travelling all that well.

I really need to get more involved in this, reading the trends thing... for this game. Knowing that type of information can make a huge difference.

I was reading yesterday that because China announce a $2billion solar plan, stock in everything solar jumped, when stock in everything solar had been on the decline / steady after already declining. Will tell when the market closes tomorrow whether analysts incites are right or not... being many think it is a blip, and will decline again. But WOW... if you dumped a crapload into them at start of trade you would be around 15% wealthier now. Amazing stuff the impact on knowing some of these trends.

Yet I see others where a company buys another company, and stock drops in the buyer, yet increases in the seller... or worse, both companies stock drops.

I get it when stock drops because of bad financial results, or when they dilute the shares to create more... that I get, but some of it is very mind boggling.

 

[anthony]

Just read in 'The Street' that it is already called: "Post-Bernanke Sell-off Thursday"

Sounds like an interesting day is to be had for all those in the US playing the game...

 

[anni]

I disagree ( a lot, not the correct thread for it ) with the part on Obamacare, but you guys have it right on watching world economics rather than the so-called, ever-growing, scare the bejeesis outa everyone Cliff for cues on the economy. The administration presently has their feet held to the fire ( again ) in yet one more exhausting snit over who-gets-what and how much of the goodies here in this Land of the Rich White Guy, please behave all you dreadful little peasants. Little tough to get at the truth above all the yelling, but it's managed to turn what should be a macroeconomic opportunity into a microeconomic sideline, and largely political, nothing at all to do with the health of our markets- BUT- in the minds of us Yanks, as ever, it's MACRO, we're all that counts, let's convince everyone THIS is the issue at hand. It's just not. Geesh. I JUST listened to the Fed's determination to keep interest rates at an historic low, he's so pleased with progress and is extremely optimistic about the probability they can do so. Didn't sound all that frightened to me-think he'd be in a position to know.

If I hand the kehungas to 'play', think I'd tool on over to see what the devil Donald Trump is raging about that day, turn around and invest exactly opposite. He's so nutty these days he's literally putting his money where his over-sized mouth is, I gather it's not going at all well. Pity. Have to see if I can find the news blurb- zero time at the moment.

 

[Whitneys story]

Just think on the upside! Everyone does not know they found the next page of the Mayan Calender. We should be able to grab some last minute sell off's.

I am speculating. JMHO

 

[anthony]

It's all getting a little close IMHO... with zero solid resolve coming out of Washington. Even if resolve does come out, they're still talking about raising the debt ceiling again, when the US already doesn't have the assets to back it, so either way... the markets are going to skydive and it will simply be more a case of whether the US goes back into full fledged recession or skirts the boundaries of it.

Markets are going to be a nightmare next week... that's my call on it. I got out lots of stocks today at a 6% or above profit as they reached their peaks, before falling back to closing prices. The few hanging in there are making losses which I will just have to absorb and leave laying around until they bounce back.

Damn cliff... I'm with Rumors for pushing a whole lot of politicians off the damn thing.

 

[Innordinate]

I am staying invested in my safer stocks through all of this.

I'm sitting too, on the stock I have now. Besides, if I sell anything now I would lose more than gain as nothing I have is going up fast enough to sell off for profit. But I'm sitting through it, definitely for the long term as I don't think anything I have will be profitable until around summer time.

Lockheed Martin

I was looking for Lockheed Martin the other day, couldn't find it in our little game, but I was planning on buying some stock. Oh well.

I think oil companies/energy companies might be worth the look at too. Dammit I wish the TSX was on here as Canada has a few huge oil projects slated to be under way soon. Not to mention the Keystone pipeline progression. Meh:meh:

 

[anthony]

Can you look at other companies that are involved with it... surely there will be US companies, or even Canadian that are traded via the NYSE or such?

Gold fell in the arse today, though I suspect it will soon be upwards as traders move their funds into a safe haven overnight.

 

[Innordinate]

I invested in an elevator company instead.