US stocks were sharply lower Friday as investors digested souring consumer sentiment and inflation data that showed an uptick in one of the Federal Reserve’s key gauges, underscoring the delicate state of the economy as businesses brace for President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The Dow tumbled 750 points, or 1.77%, on Friday. The broader S&P 500 fell 2.1% and the Nasdaq Composite slid 2.8%.
. . .
Wall Street was also grappling with Trump’s announcement on Wednesday of 25% tariffs on all cars shipped into the US, set to go into effect April 3. Trump also announced tariffs on car parts like engines and transmissions, set to take effect “no later than May 3,” according to the proclamation he signed.
You’ve made HALF the right choice. You “sold high”, which is great!
However, the harder part is knowing when to go back in for the “buy low” part. If you’re out of the market when that recovery occurs you’ll be missing out on those gains. I’ve look at historical recoveries and can tell there is no way I’ll know when that time is. I will guess wrong every time.
I hope you’re better at it than I am.
Most people arent playing the market daily. Especially in something like a 401k. You dont need to time the bottom. We’re already in a correction, and its still going. You can wait until the market recovers, and as long as you buy back at a price lower than what you sold, call it a win.
Dont chase, “what could have been” because youll always feel like you lost
Right, thats the magic, but its not that easy. No one knows when that will occur.
You have to accurately predict both a high enough point to profit, but also, and much harder, put the money back in when you decide its “low enough”. Look at historical recoveries. You said it yourself, most people aren’t playing the market daily. The folks that are pulling out may miss the recovery by weeks or more because they’re not watching. I know I don’t watch that closely, but I also don’t try to time the market.
Isn’t that what trying to time the market is doing? The folks that are pulling out to put in later are attempting to time the market.
I’m arguing the opposite. “Time in the market beats timing the market.”
We have a lot of the same points, but what im trying to drive home is that, “buy low, sell high,” doesnt mean, “buy the lowest, sell the peak.” Markets in correction right now, its generally trending down. Potentially will turn bear market. You dont need to follow daily to know that. Now is as good a time to sell as last week, or the peak. You didnt miss it.
When it goes down more, you dont need to see the bottom. You can wait until it hits recovery or bull market even, and buy back. That point will likely be lower than where you sold even if its not the lowest. You dont need to buy the bottom, but buying lower than you sold is a win.
I agree, especially since interest rates are currently relatively high, it’s quite OK to remain liquid these days.
You can never time the lowest point. What you can do however is guarantee yourself a massive gain over the next few years when the stocks inevitably go back to pre-trump levels by buying it now, which is already much lower than it was 2 months ago
Wait 16 months.
It’s gonna go lower before it’s done, but in 18 months people will know how the midterms look, and the next chance to break this 3/3 lock on government by the aristocracy.
Then it’s either dump it back in or dump it in the Nikkei or something as you negotiate the sale of the smoking ruin you called a house and get on the boat.
The right time to go back in is whenever this admin is done, there is no “low” when the floor keeps falling out.
Timing the exact top and bottom is impossible, but you can always sell at an all-time high and buy at a 52 week low.
Personally, I find it more effective for myself if I frame it in terms of “owning the most shares” instead of “making the most dollars”.
If I started with 100 shares and now have 200 shares, I consider that a win, even if the 200 shares together are worth less than the 100 shares were at one time.
An all-time high? So on point over the prior record and you sell?
I’m not understanding your strategy here. What are you accomplishing by putting your money back into the market at the dollar figure equal to the lowest value in the last year (52 weeks)? Especially if you sold at one point over the prior record (the all time high) you could be out of the market for years while stocks are on a rapid increase. The last 2 years of the S&P500 were both north of 23% returns back to back. Using your method you would have sold sometime in 2022 losing all those HUGE gains.
What if the recover occurs prior to stocks ever hitting the 52 week low? You’d still be out of the market and will have missed the recovery.
This confuses me even more. Number of shares is completely irrelevant. Stock splits double shares (and half values), a reverse stock split would double value (but half number of shares). I mean, if you’re just interested in number of shares, you do you, but most people use stocks as an investment vehicle where the value of those stocks is primary value (voting rights being a second value but most people don’t care about that).
If you can’t even understand that I am obviously not including things like stock splits, then I don’t think my comment was intended for you.