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Sports
High School Football
11-07-09 - Hoosac Valley beats Drury.
More photo's on Monday |
 | Thursday, Nov. 06
Boys' Soccer: State Vocational Championship Game
McCann Tech 3, Keefe Tech 2
Girls' Soccer: State Vocational Championship Game
Blackstone Valley 8, McCann Tech 0 |
Election
Trying to remember who won what and why? All the information is right here. |
Daily Digest
This is Jake
He's been lost in Pittsfield for weeks but frequently sited. He was last seen heading toward the fire station on Peck's Road. He's tired, dirty and needs seizure medication. He's chipped. If you see him, call Julie at 413-537-5616, the vet 24/7 at 413-499-2820 or animal control at 413-448-9700. |
What's Playing
The popular anime character "Astro Boy" searches for acceptance on the big screen.
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ObituariesSales FliersBazaarsNov. 7:
VNA & Hospice, Community Room, North Adams
North Adams Elks
10-4; Nov. 8, 9-2
Crafters, Chinese auction, bake sale
For vendor information, Melanie at 413-743-5562.
Nov. 14
Berkshire Community Church, Richmond
10-4; Crafters, bake sale. Contact Evelyn Goggia at 413-445-5747
Lanesborough Elementary School annual Fall Craft Fair from 10 to 4. Free admission, huge variety of arts and crafts, raffles, food and more. Proceeds go to sixth-grade trip to Cape Cod.
Vendors can contact Deb at 413-738-5349 or debhutton@aol.com or Lori at 413-499-0065 or lorittod@yahoo.com to secure a spot.
Dec. 12-13
North Adams Country Club, crafts 9-4; food from That's a Wrap from 11-2. Contact Sheryl Morehouse at 413-822-3329.
Planning a bazaar this season? Submit information to info@iberkshires.com to have it listed here. |
Related Stories |
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@TheMarket: Go slow, Bumps AheadBy Bill Schmick
iBerkshires Columnist
01:29PM / Saturday, May 09, 2009
 | | Bill Schmick |
We're almost there. The S&P 500 briefly hit 929 this week barely 11 points from my target of 940. The moment of truth for investors is rapidly approaching. Will the markets be able to break through this level and rise further or will the averages roll over and re-test the lows? The answer could come this week.
If I were a betting man, I'd say the markets break higher after a short and maybe sharp sell-off. But since I get paid to invest other's money I will take a more cautious approach. Most of my clients (and readers) have at least some money already invested in this 36 percent move off the bottom if they have been taking my advice. So there is no real urgency to bet the house on which way the markets go from here. For the most part, we're in income-type mutual funds and some stock and bond funds but we still have a healthy percentage of cash. So we should be in a great position to take advantage of whatever the markets offer us.
Our objective is not to beat the market. Our goal is to preserve principal and make a decent return (although not as much as the market). If the averages decide to drop precipitously, given our strategy, we won't be hurt nearly as much as those who do swing for the fences. The point I'm trying to make is successful investors need to stay in the game. Hit singles and doubles and once in a while maybe a home run.
If you lose all your profits or take a deep loss in your original investment, your confidence begins to falter and you are out of the game. That happened last year to an enormous number of individual investors.
In hindsight, the mistake most investors made was to take the markets for granted. From 2003 through most of 2007, global stock markets marched higher reaching new highs almost monthly. Investors, young and old, rich and poor, started to believe it would never end. Somehow we talked ourselves into believing we had reached a golden age of mild recessions, worldwide prosperity and of course burgeoning retirement accounts. We probably deserved exactly what we received last year.
For most of us, it took a wake-up call of this magnitude to realize that markets can go both ways. Unless you are properly diversified it can cost you a bundle.
The much discussed banking stress test came off as expected. Although 10 banks need to find $75 billion in new capital (Bank of America chief among them with $34 billion to raise) none are in danger of failure. I suspect the real objective of this three-month exercise was to give a government imprimatur to the viability and health of our 19 largest banks. With that seal of approval in place, the government is hoping the private sector rather than the taxpayer will now be willing to step and buy the mountain of new shares these banks will be offering to the public.
Most of this good news has already been discounted in the markets as has the unemployment number which indicated less people (539,000) lost their jobs last month then economists expected. The unemployment rate now stands at 8.9 percent but remember that the jobs number is a lagging indicator. It is like looking back to where we've come from rather than where we are going. Job losses can continue to mount even after the economy starts to recover. The important thing to watch is the rate of decline and that appears to be slowing.
So if we are going to breach the 940 level on the S&P 500, I suspect the ride will be bumpy with sellers showing up as we approach that level while the bulls battle back as the averages retreat. The good news is you can sit and watch the battle investing more money if it decisively breaks that level to the upside while taking advantage of any downside that might occur.
Bill Schmick is a licensed investment adviser representative as well as a registered financial consultant. All views and opinions expressed by Bill in his columns are strictly his own. Direct your inquiries to him at 1-518-610-1553 or at wschmick@fairpoint.net. You can also visit www.afewdollarsmore.com for more of Bill's insight. |
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