Short Selling NOW??

I just bought some Jet Blue stock

Nope, I'd say you missed the boat.

kman... a little late, hold on to it for now.

i'm up 18% on Nextel over the course of this month.

can't wait for their earnings report, should be solid numbers.

i invest into my own business usually, i am wondering if i should give my broker money and have him 'short sell' some stock as in buy now, and when it plummets, sell back the 'borrowed' stock at the new low rate and keep the different... it's call 'short'ing...

According to the likes of Thom Calandra, CBS Market Watch columnist, and economic forecasters Robert Prechter and Doug Casey, you should be selling all the stocks that you own.

People like them are forecasting a total meltdown over the coming months and years. Their advice is not to be lulled into a false sense of security by short-term rallies. The stock market is in its third year of decline and showing no sign of a change in that trend in the near future. They expect stocks to fall a LOT further and advise you get rid of all "paper" assets you may not be able to afford to hold for at least 20 years.

There is far too much credit sloshing around the world at large. The US also has a raft of problems of its own, not the least the way in which we are creating unemployment in exchange for cheap production abroad.

Gold and silver, whether coins or bullion, have been the traditional havens in such times (and not stored in banks of course). Most important is to get rid of all forms of personal debt: the US - government, companies and individuals - is now $30 trillion dollars in debt, three times the GDP and at its highest level ever.

After the stock market slumps, real estate prices will follow. If your home becomes less than outstanding debts on it, you might lose it.

Probably more of an answer than you wanted, and still a major simplification of the current economic outlook. But if the "prophets of doom" are even half right, coping over the next few years will take some serious changes in how we manage our personal finances.

You missed the boat on this... thank god not all of us did.

you expect the market to drop? insider buying has been rising which is a big bullish signal. pinning your hopes on something happening which makes the transportation sector drop is very risky imo.

I wouldn't bother shorting stocks nowadays. If you have money to burn though, you may consider going long on telecom. They've been one of the hardest hit the sectors in the past 6 months. Lucent for example went from 5+ six months, to 1.5 a month ago, and is now going upwards toward 2. The forecast on those isn't great and risk is substential, but if you buy it now, you can double and even triple your investement in 1-2 years.

Lucent 6-month Chart

Many analysts recommend their clients to short at the moment. You sould wait until after 9/11 to se what happens. Could be that the fear off new terror is puting a slow to the market

Kman. Short-selling without the proper hedging is INCREDIBLY risky.
Derivative investing is generally very wise or very foolish and no where in between. I might add it is extremely hard to hedge based on some "information" you "suspect" the rest of the market doesn't know.

With no hedging, theoretically, there is NO limit to your potential losses.
Just ask the Nobel Laureates at Long Term Capital.
http://mondediplo.com/1998/11/05warde2

I really didn't mean to sound like a prick in my first comment, I was hoping somebody would get the pun.


Jayeff--
There are ALWAYS prophets of doom. See Malthus.
http://www.kalama.com/~dgberntsen/MaltSynSum.htm

U.S. Gov't has never defaulted on debt. Ever.
Debt isn't bad, it helps us smooth consumption over our lifetimes.
The key is to invest for the long-term.

The only time you get fucked is if you are 64 and lost your shit, but that is precisely why you should properly allocate your portfolio according to your risk tolerance, and your expected remaining life-span.

Consider Japan, where the consumers are taking money out of circulation, placing it into Gold, which unless you're Soros, is only good for jewelry. That sort of consumer behavior has caused Japanese economy to plunge deeper into recession.

Wash rinse repeat.

I'm not saying the short term won't be prone to increased volatility, but if you take your money out of the market. YOU WILL MISS THE RECOVERY.