Subj : Market Action To : All From : Paul Rogers Date : Thu Feb 24 2005 06:17 pm Content-type: text/plain Prices were flat until mid-afternoon then, reportedly because closing oil prices fell in some profit-taking, they staged a nice little rally, closing at or near their highs. However, volume increased only a little, still -3% below average. This rally caused my timing signal to reverse, popping a BUY signal. I tend to ignore these timing signals when they come very close to each other. In my opinion, the real value of "timing signals" isn't to direct our investing decisions, but to alert us to pay attention, things may be changing. Now this is strictly opinion and speculation on my part, and you've probably heard some of this before. I think the "Gay 90's Bubble" sucked a lot of "newbies" from the public into the market with an apparent promise of easy money. But few really learned from history. No investor had experienced a major Bear Market like 1929. No, 1987 doesn't count--it was a shock, but it was all over too quickly. Few were prepared for the second greatest Bear Market. I don't think many investors understood 2003 was little more than a natural "reflex" rebound from a seriously pessimistic and over-sold market. Now, with many reliable economic analysts, e.g. the Fed, assures us the economy is recovering at a modest pace from the effects that caused the Bear Market, it appears to me that 2004, 2005 and the near future are much more likely to resemble the traditional market. I expect there's going to be a strong push and pull by investors, public and professional, that don't know what that is either. They're going to be expecting the easy money and fearing the return of the Bear. They're going to be "dissing" a lot of good stocks and companies, "throwing the baby out with the bath water." I think this is likely to cause a lot of volatility in a modestly growing market. I think the way to take advantage of that is a "value investing" strategy, whether in mutual funds or as an active investor. Remember, you heard it here. Price Vola- Momen- Volume Oscil- Summ. Change tility tum lator Index -__+ -__+ -__+ -__+ -__+ -__+ _|__ __>_ __|_ __|_ _<__ ___> 02/17 __<_ __>_ __|_ __<_ _<__ ___> 02/18 <___ __<_ _|__ __|_ <___ ___| 02/22 __<_ _<__ _|__ _|__ _<__ ___| 02/23 __<_ _<__ __|_ _|__ _<__ ___| 02/24 Timing Signals: I don't use or recommend timing signals, but they're fun to watch. If I did though, well, I might use something like this. (Be warned!! It tends to whipsaw around signal points!) Last Signal: BUY Date: 02/24/05 S&P: 1200 Winner or Loser: tbd By: tbd See my market tracking charts for '03-'04 and my investment strategy study at my website(s): http://www.xprt.net/~pgrogers/Pers.html http://www.angelfire.com/or/paulrogers/Pers.html http://www.geocities.com/paulgrogers/Pers.html Paul Rogers, paulgrogers@yahoo.com -o) http://www.angelfire.com/or/paulrogers /\\ Rogers' Second Law: Everything you do communicates. _\_V .... Och.... is it dead yet, laddie? ___ MultiMail/MS-DOS v0.35 --- * Origin: The Bare Bones BBS (1:105/360) .