Down goes the Dow

Gee, this Lance guy sounds a bit like an unintelligent phony who thinks very highly of himself. I was trying to figure out why you'd pick that anecdote to share, but then again you were trying to spread "Tyler Durden" articles just last week:

For those reading, please note that "Super Bowl" was in scare quotes. That means that "Lance" is too good for that sort of thing... except when he isn't.

Ah yes, rather insightful indeed!

So, generally, people either do something a lot, they don't do it at all, or they do it some? See, he told you it'd be insightful.

Well, he doesn't have anything to speak for other than being a talk show host, but he writes like Chuck Palahniuk so he must know what he's talking about! You know, I heard that "Tyler Durden" follows his every word in fact.

Lance was talking about you. That explains it all.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Lance was talking about you. That explains it all.

Ha ha! I just called him up (281-558-5738), explained the situation and he actually said he was essentially talking about you.

I told him I wouldn't write exactly what he said but it's pretty damn funny that he actually answered the phone and came clean.

You neglected to tell him of your passive dollar cost average investment style and worship of Bob Pisani.

Why do you guys engage in ad hominem attacks? I thought this thread was supposed to be about the Dow going up or down and related issues.

Evidently, my largely skeptical and negative comments about the market's current valuation generates a lot of angst.

Moore off wrote:

Why do you guys engage in ad hominem attacks? I thought this thread was supposed to be about the Dow going up or down and related issues.

Really? You should click through and read the thread first, it's easy to misread the title and get that idea.

I actually did think that this thread was supposed to be about ups and downs and general talk on the market initially, too. But then I clicked through it a bit and you'll see that it's mainly about Ghost of Igloi â„¢ and his dedicated fan club. I ended up going to other actual finance forums to read and talk about market stuff.

I do still click into this thread every now and then, but that's under the understanding that it's for entertainment and reading spirited personalities and rhetorical flourishes (e.g. that Lance Roberts radio show and the other bloggers that Igloi regularly contributes).

The More You Know wrote:

Ha ha! I just called him up (281-558-5738), explained the situation and he actually said he was essentially talking about you.

You could have saved yourself a phone call. Lance was obvious talking about GOI (see below). The irony is that GOI posted the Lance quote.

From Lance Roberts:

Men were brandishing new Rolex watches while bragging about their latest acquisitions. I now know more about their personal stock portfolios than I do about their children’s latest successes."

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

I have a [Porsche] Cayman by the way. Black 2016. Nice car.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

AAPL has advanced over 30% since [I bought it].

You forgot to include the handle you used and why.

Snake.

Moore off wrote:

I thought this thread was supposed to be about the Dow going up or down and related issues.

You read the title of the thread wrong. It's not "Up and down goes the Dow", It's "Down goes the Dow". Which has never happen to the degree the original post reads. And he's still singing that song after 4 years.

Counting posts prior to this one on this page and the previous two pages, Ghost of Igloi has accounted for more than half of the posts.

By my count pretty much answering the phone. Like your post, you attack, I answer.

Disagreeing with someone's position is not an "attack."

I need advice.

I am looking to sell one or more of my holdings to augment my cash.

This is for an investment portfolio outside of my retirement accounts. My usual method to get back cash has been to sell any losses to claim a deduction against my ordinary income. But now I'm sitting on nothing but sizable gains. I would rather sell something that I have held for long term. That just leaves the following 4 stocks that I own:

Apple

GE

Intel

Chevron.

Which of those would you sell if you were me?

Ryan,

I think all four are good companies, nice dividends. Have you considered selling a little of each? What you lose in transaction costs, you gain in diversification.

Igy

Narcissist alert! wrote:

Disagreeing with someone's position is not an "attack."

What is your handle?

GoI,

My holdings are pretty low. Lets just say I'm not rich. So selling a little of each is not practical.

But, not selling anything is a definite option. I don't need cash. For one thing I do have cash saved that I could just transfer in to my account. I'm just looking to add more cash so I'm ready to seize any opportunities when they suddenly arise. But if one thinks that holding those 4 stocks ARE an opportunity than I could just hold them.

You are right, that all those stocks have healthy dividends. Although Apple is a special case. Right now, I have all of them set to pay dividends in cash rather than reinvest. In effect that is sort of like slightly paring down my holdings in them and adding to cash.

Problem is, I've made good gains riding this "Trump" rally and for various reasons I don't believe in this rally. I just bought some Under Armour, but otherwise I have just been holding for many weeks now and watching my portfolio rise. I'm getting kind of antsy.

The two stocks I'm most considering selling is Apple and Chevron.

Apple is poised to repatriate a ton of cash to give back shareholders thanks to Trump. But I'm feeling like that is priced in. Increasingly its becoming clear to me that Steve Jobs' Apple is long gone. They are just not coming out with any new exciting products or services. In any case, I own a significant amount of XLK (S&P 500 tech component) in an IRA.

Holding Chevron is ok. But I don't foresee oil prices going much higher from here. The OPEC countries astutely cut production just enough to get prices up to about the breakeven point for fracking, but now that they have done that I don't see prices going up from here. More long term I think EVs are going to be ever more common and that will undercut the oil market.

Ryan,

You do have INTC, AAPL and XLK all in the technology sector. I wonder how the most recent quarter would have been without the Samsung battery issue. Perhaps the AAPL advantage may have reached natural limits?

As you know I have significant concerns about equity valuations. If those concerns are only partially realized having liquidity will be an advantage.

I think you have more than adequately balanced the pros and cons.

Best,

Igy