Watching my 401, the stock market is a f***ing yoyo.

[Delmette2.0]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/guid/C792B031-2E4A-426C-9E06-F9614FE4A776

A nearly 700-point gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA and a surge in the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP midday Friday has resulted in the equity market seeing panic-like buying. The moves come on the back of dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell during a panel discussion with his predecessors in Atlanta.

snip..

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said Friday he's flexible about future monetary policy moves, proving some comfort to investors that have grown anxious about the rate-hike path of the central bank as signs of slack in the global economy appeared to mount.

...................
Are some entities using the stock market to scare some people into selling so they can buy at a bargain?

I admit I know very little about what i would call the backroom deals, but these wild swings just don't seem normal. Then again, what is normal these days.

[ck4829]

1. Money under the mattress is in a safer position

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. Until there's a fire....

or a robbery, right?

[ck4829]

7. Hey now, your money can just disappear in the stock market too

Securities fraud comes to mind.

Enron employees had their 401k plans obliterated.

https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/22/business/employees-retirement-plan-is-a-victim-as-enron-tumbles.html

[A HERETIC I AM]

9. LOL...not bloody likely

Hey now, your money can just disappear in the stock market too

It's just that it doesn't, unless your investments are completely speculative.

The number of companies that did the same thing as Enron can be counted on one hand. Of course, Enron was 18 years ago, but don't let that stop your rather skewed and slightly paranoid opinion of investing.

Look...some people are savers and some people are investors. It has always been thus. If you don't like or can not tolerate risk of any kind, then fine, put it in an FDIC insured bank account and you can sleep soundly. No one will think any less of you.

But frankly your idea, even if it was just in jest, has risk as well, doesn't it?

[Delmette2.0]

12. I use to put cash not under the mattress,

But between the mattress pad and the mattress. My rational was if someone broke in and flipped the mattress the mattress pad would hold tight and the cash would not be found. Sorry to say the cash got spend on emergency expenses, so it served It's purpose.

[redstatebluegirl]

2. I am 63, my husband is 10 years younger and he has more in the market than I do.

I am in it for the long term and hoping the market will survive Trumper. I rolled a lot of mine into his a couple of years ago. We are find with my SS and my part-time job which will last for a few years until the grant ends. I feel for those who depend on it right now.

[Delmette2.0]

10. I'm sitting g tight on mine, too.

I have to take $500 out each year because of my age, but i still worry that the down turn will do too much damage.

[Johnny2X2X]

13. Get a good adviser

At 63 you should not be heavily in stocks. Maybe 30-40% in lower risk ones.

[redstatebluegirl]

18. We have, and follow his advice.

[bif]

3. Fortunately, most of my savings is in mutual funds

The only good financial advice my dad ever gave me. He was a retired dentist and died penniless last May. I do have about 20% of my money in the stock market, mainly in Apple, which is just killing me lately. The horror...the horror!

[TheFarseer]

5. I'm trying

To sell off weaker stocks on up days like this and buy stronger stocks on days like yesterday. Unfortunately you only know for sure which is which afterwards.

[el_bryanto]

6. Computerized Trading acts as an accelerator for market movements

A few people make buys, and their computer algorithms magnify those issues, sometimes enormously.

Bryant

[Wellstone ruled]

14. And the Algo's love the magic Tech Stocks.

My guess is,this volatility is only going to get worse. Industrial relate Stocks are going to be the Patsy during this rotation. Looks like the Employee Pension Funds of these Industrial Stocks are the new target of Wall Street High Speed Traders .

[empedocles]

17. High frequency trading programs can make more in a manic market like this

in a week, than they can make in more typical months.

[packman]

8. Put your money in a mason jar and bury it in the back yard

That's what they did in the Depression Era when confidence in banks and stocks hit bottom.

[A HERETIC I AM]

11. The problem with that scenario....

is that it is possible for that cash to become worthless.

And FWIW, back in the "Depression era" the FDIC didn't exist.


Don't forget, during the recent Great Recession, despite the trillions of lost value in the stock market and the housing market, of all the people that had money in banks in this country, not one single person lost one single red cent.

NOT. A. SINGLE. PENNY.

[empedocles]

15. At this point in many of the economic cycles, the downside risk is markedly

larger than the upside reward.

[OliverQ]

16. It's up 800 now because of the jobs report

and remarks by the Fed.

Of course good economic news just makes everyone ignore the horrible things Trump does which is so frustrating.