what do you think of putting some money into dow

Who cares about terminology when you're making consistent money.

Cheers, Paul

Through risking a large buy order at a certain level on the basis you describe, you are simply betting red/black at the roulette table. It is definitely not trading nor investing, as picking an exact top/bottom of any market cycle is a near impossible task, as such peaks/troughs are only obvious in retrospect.

However, I do believe there is pretty clear value emerging in certain individual stocks right now, judging by the fundamental strength of certain balance sheets and business models, those who possess reliable strems of cash flow to cover the now generous dividend payouts.

That is not to say the broader indexes won't fall by another 5%, 10%, 20% or even by a far greater amount before bottoming. In order to mitigate these downside risks, I am buying individual UK stocks this week on a very gradual basis, going in lightly and very selectively, but at the same time keeping most of my powder dry in anticipation of future opportunities.

I am happy to hold these trades/investments over the long-term and enjoy the dividend income, which easily surpasses my cost of capital, while waiting for significant capital appreciation. I nearly always hedge my long positions on individual stocks with shorts positions on the index they form part of, or on another country's benchmark index.

I think it is still too high, the bubble is still alive and well. It could be trending down for years, which would be the best thing to happen to American economy in the long run.

actually daddy it was 14K wasn't it and now its 7k.
i think its down 7000.
you can look at it in many different ways. but there are chartist that look at the 1990-2009 dot com and now housing, financial, energy, oh yeah and all of industry (a.e. big three) crash and the double top leads one to think heavy down turn. fundys there not the land of optimism.
and our fearless leader loves the work catastrphe.
oh yeah and we are about to tax the piss out of the rich so we can close down even more jobs.

the really good news is while it all burns we can profit from it. you can make money when you see were its going.