The market seems to be selling-off on the back of limited bad news imo, apart from the dollar that is.

If you can hold your nerve and apart from any short term requirements to offload poor performing stocks, I have a couple!!, my advice would be sit tight. This does not have the feel of the tech(mining!) bubble at all. Difference being there are a lot of good fundamentals, unlike in 2000 when there were a lot of over rated nothing companies.

I think you are probably right, cynic. I will wait for next week.
SBT shot from 53p to 60p this morning, so am now sitting on some cash which needs to be working!
Glass half full & looking for a top up.

have only changed my mind set recently from trading these small speculative stocks, which have lost me a small fortune in the past, to buying (quality) growth stocks, be ironic now if i take a battering by buying as the market starts a vicious downtrend... and before realisation sets in... lol

Ted,

Are your new stocks making money, flat or losing money? Just curious if you currently feel the stock market is a better place to make money than say 5.5% in a bank account somewhere.

Strawbs.

I remember buying TAN in the last correction, @90p, and selling again with the jitters at the same price, if this is a correction and it was only 3/4 months ago we had the last, look at the growth, i know TAN is generally an exception to the rule, as a very strong performer, but 70/75% growth in sp in 4 months, surely certain elements of the market are heading for meltdown...?

I would say TAN is a bit of an exception. I also made quite a bit on that before selling in the last correction, having bought when tipped in IC. Of course if I'd held until today, I'd have made a lot more. Taking the rest of my portfolio though the percentage increase wasn't a great deal better than money in the bank, and that's with the added risk. In the preceeding years though, my overall returns where way ahead of money in the bank. That's what made my mind up to switch to cash really. In a very bullish market most can pick winners, but in a flat to bearish market, it's a lot more difficult to pick enough of the right ones......

Strawbs.

Strawbs...
I am out of property at the moment and therefore 80% liquid, which is in 6.05% account, i am still looking for land, as even though i expect a correction starting autumn in house prices, i fear land will hold up through supply/demand problems for years to come.
I am fully in stocks and watching (somewhat nervously) with interest, UMN HAWK and couple others doing ok, but i still hold some absolute crap SEO CHP to name a couple... just hoping for at least one final push to say 6900 and bank some profits to counter the others...

Ted

Sounds sensible. I'm also out of property as I think it's another asset that'll get hit hard if rates continue to rise. I'm not expecting to enter equities again for at least 18 months, possibly longer. If we are at a tipping point, I think it'll take a few years to play out at least. I suspect the best performing stocks will get hit the hardest if the slide picks up momentum, simply because they've done so well and probably have more profits available to take....

Strawbs.

am delighted to be holding some good solid property (not shares in same), and i don't really care if there is a bit of correction as they are all in really good locations and therefore will always hold value at worst.

with regard to shares, i don't think we are in for meltdwon, though i slowly taking money off the table ..... still hold UMN but sold HAWK this morning at a good profit, sold CHP several weeks back (nasty loss), and was never ever enticed by SEO

Get on Richard, i was waiting for you to warn me about this correction, came too late... lol

Don't think it's at meltdown stage yet. That'll probably come as a "surprise event" rather than the start of a correction (could be wrong though). Property will continue to be in demand, but if rates continue to rise I think it'll force out the speculative buy-to-letters, and that will surpress the market with excess stock for a while. If holding long term then property should always do well. Especially on a small island. :-)

In my opinion....

Strawbs.

ditto... my friends at estate agents are saying it is quiet, i think the rush to put property on the market before the hips packages (and consequent farce) before June 1st has led to many properties on market, my concern is as you say, if more recent but-to-letters start to cash in equity, it could snowball and force prices further downward, as Cynic said, if you hold property in a strong location, it will always fetch a premium...
I have been considering buying in Cape Verde...
hmmmmmmmmm

buy-to-let has been riding for a fall for quite a while ...... "family" use our bits bar one which a friend and i bought for 50k in 1978 just off Portobello and has been let to the same tenant since 1985 ..... don't think that will get hit too hard!

Whether correction or crash, I will continue to trade normally (with the exception I will not put any fresh money on the table).
My reasoning is based on 1 study, 1 famous quote from a top notch investor (can't remember who) and 1 economic truism.
The quote was not to buy a share in any company unless you would be happy to buy the whole company, and not to buy a share for even 10 minutes unless you would happily hold for 10 years.
The study showed that with the exception of the biggest players, the costs of selling, buying, taxes and the spread, combined with less than perfect timing, most would lose on the deal compared to staying put.
Finally the truism. Cash, bonds and equities are correllated investments. Their movements affect each other, and in the medium term, growth on them must always be for equities to outstrip bonds and bonds to outstrip cash. Capitalism is based on this fundamental principle. If this principle breaks down, so does capitalism and we all find our investments, cash or otherwise to be almost worthless.
So for me, I'll keep going, but the very best of luck to all in these stormy seas, whatever your plans.
Alan

good logic alan ...... should not be surprised coming from you (creep, creep, smarm, smarm)

Not my logic, mate.
I aint clever enough to dream up that sort of thing!!
But (what feels like a) lifetime in finance proves again and again that equities will win in the long term, the key is to be a long termer!!
There is a reason that it is a statutary requirement of IFA's not to sell any equity based investment unless there are a minimum of 5 years to run on it.
Alan

The longer you hold, the more you smooth out the volatility. 3 good up years and 2 bad down years will still average out to a decent percentage. Since the "good years" in equities (and probably property) are often far better than the good years in "safer" asset classes. I still prefer to rotate asset classes though so that my money is relatively safe and accessable, which it might not be in a downturn (e.g. difficult to sell a property or sell an equity at the price you want, when you want it). When interest rates start falling I'll probably rotate again. Might not be the best stratergy, but has worked reasonably well for me........

Strawbs.

Re the 5 year thing.
I was once shown graphs that showed; Had you lumped every penny you had into equities the day before the Wall St. crash of 1929(?), then you would be in profit within 5 years. The same went for the assasination of Kennedy and black Wednesday in the UK.
We are now approximately 5 years after the low point for stocks following 9/11. I wonder what the charts would show?
I'm off to have a look!!
Alan

If you could just tell me what they'll show if I wait a few years before buying again equities..... :-)

i was a bull a couple of months ago and remain one now. pe's are good to reasonable, companies still pronounces best ever profits and we have digital and the olympics on the way. Dont let a few people selling shares to disappear for the summer put you off.

Bull, target 7000+.
Property imo looks bleak because.
1.Must have everything now pay later debt culture.
2.Banks have relaxed the rules on lending (eg) 9 times your salary,120% mortgage, intrest only, and so on.
3.Intrest rates on the up.
4.Almost everybody is a property expert,( when the shoeshine boy is telling you what shares to buy its time to get out ) sort of thing.
Not good imo.
Neil