Now that GM is trading at levels not seen since the 1950s, I decided to plunge in with a whopping $240 investment (50 shares). GM closed up 9 cents from the price I paid - so I made $4.50 in the stock market today! After 25% tax, I've got $3.37 burning a whole in my pocket! Who wants to meet me at Starbucks?

Andrew

Andrew...I'm hopeing your starting something...America needs it bad now...

And the stock market has lost more by percent this past week, since 1933.

What I found more interesting is the fact 77% of tanks lost in the first Gulf War was from friendly fire.

You do not.

Andrew, that was a sorely needed laugh. Thank you.

$3.37? That will only get you a half a cup of coffee at Starbucks..

or this:

http://www.birthdaydirect.com/1st-birthday-boy-blowouts-p-449.html

hey my Sirius radio is 40 CENTS! Oh...I bought it at $3.00.
Sh**

You haven't lost a cent 'til you sell it. I'm keeping mine in the back pocket and forgetting it's there.

Unless it goes under.

There is always risk. Always.

You can always lose.

Ya,

And guess what I heard this afternoon Andrew?

GM is talking with Chrysler...A merger may be in the offing. I wonder what that will do to your stock value. Might make it go up eventually, but in the short term they sometimes do one of those cash out and reissue deals which might get you half GM and half Chrysler stock. However, you might wind up like Sirius after they absorbed XM, reduction in value.

GM is going BK.

GM is up 1.54 to 6.43 today. That's a 31.49% increase. Andrew can now go to Starbucks everyday. Providing he finds one that hasn't closed.

Considering how much the market fell before today's increase, I'd limit the size to a tall. No grande or venti quite yet. What the market giveth, the market could easily taketh away tomorrow, more likely Wednesday.

Here's the schedule: http://www.census.gov/epcd/econ/www/indijun.htm

Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services
Wednesday, October 15, 2008 8:30am

Manufacturing and Trade: Inventories and Sales
Wednesday, October 15, 2008 10:00am

Housing Starts and Building Permits
Friday, October 17, 2008 8:30am

New Residential Sales
Monday, October 27, 2008 10:00am

Housing Vacancies
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 10:00am

Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufactures' Shipments and Orders
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 8:30am

Here's the rest of them, not in a cut and paste friendly form:

http://www.fedstats.gov/policy/pei_calendar2007.pdf

Never in my lifetime would I have thought I would see the heavy losses of last week with one day comeback today.

I read one commentary saying it's going to be a choppy ride. As much as I am amazed by what took place today I still think the fundamentals need serious change and I remain deeply skeptical of pretty much everything Wall Street.

This one day gain was expected but I didn't think it would be this big.

I feel it's going to be a 2-5 year ride just to get back some of the principle lost last week.

I'm afraid there will be more record-breaking drops, and record-breaking recoveries to come. The events of the near future will cause us to forget today's activity pretty quickly.

Irrational exhuberance and irrational pessimism is the name of the game right now. Neither are correct. The answer is somewhere in the middle, as usual. I personally believe the market has overreacted in the negative recently. Given today's gains, the Dow is still down 29% YTD. That's a substantial haircut given today's upside action.

As a long term investor, I'm not opposed to seeing the market remain low for a few years so I can accumulate more shares for the future.

I'm made money faster than I could spend it today with all my oil stocks! Isn't America great!

I should have sold my measly 50 shares of GM today when it briefly hit $8 (closed at $6.37). But I have been on a long road trip and have been driving a lot and not paying close attention to prices. I don't like General Motors and would never buy a GM car. But I knew it was heavily discounted and would almost certainly go back up...hey, maybe enough profit for a nice dinner or two.

I too think the market is far from done with its wild swings. While I'm relieved at Monday's huge gain in stocks, I'm not exactly buying (GM fun aside), although I think I may buy in a few months when things settle down. This moment may not be the best time to invest long-term but soon will be.

Andrew

So Vitalogy or others who certainly know more than I...I was apart of a breakfast forum this morning on sustainable practices and Dave Williams of Shorebank Pacific was one of the featured panel members.

He said, and I paraphrase, that had the market NOT had its big bounce yesterday our financial sector would have in essence collapsed.

He also indicated that banks lost trust in lending to each other and that trust needs to be re-built.

Just looking for some feedback from others here.

I'm not so sure the financial sector would have collapsed had the market not rebounded, but it is true that banks are not lending to each other because there is a fear they won't get paid back. When banks don't lend to each other, it halts credit that banks would be issuing to individuals and businesses. Increasing confidence is key to thawing the credit markets. Watch the movement on the LIBOR rates which will indicate whether confidence is going up or down.

So the market slid again today. What makes it different than yesterday? If this would have happened yesterday we would have collapsed but today it was okay?

This is rather normal actually. It is likely to be up as much as it was down today. Notice that the Fed and Treasury infused 250 billion of that 700 directly into the banking system.

This, Paulson said he wouldnt do, just a week and a half ago based on what happened in Japan years ago when the Govt there did that and their economy didnt straighten out for 10 years because the Banks just sat on the cash that they were given, usuing it as leverage in stock buying and not taking care of their toxic paper. So that is why we werent going to do it. Now, the wisdom is otherwise, because the banks all over the world have been balking at lending, which cause the big crash last week. Just like a little kid stomping their feet until they get their ice cream cone.

So just a week later Paulson et al ie: the President and the G7 decide that infusion of cash into the banking system is what is needed to instantly prop up the markets. So now the theory just a week later is that we have to do 3 things not just one thing ; buy up the toxic securities, infuse cash and buy a piece of the banks , temporarily the Feds say.