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JCOM holding up well today.
bought a bit of SFNT here.
I sold and bought it back just as you were saying you weren't holding into earnings. Maybe I shouldn't pay attention to you more often!! I still think it's headed higher though. Let me know if you get back in.
JCOM! A move over 37 today??
JCOM from stock consultant:
BREAKOUT WATCH for possible breakout above 36.09, no resistance in area just above.
Type: True breakout from double resistance.
Target: 39.04, 9.1%
Lots of goobers around, eh? lol
Opinions??:
washingtonpost.com <http://www.washingtonpost.com/>
Participants Would Forfeit Part of Accounts' Profits
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 3, 2005; Page A13
Under the White House Social Security plan, workers who opt to divert
some of their payroll taxes into individual accounts would ultimately
get to keep only the investment returns that exceed the rate of return
that the money would have accrued in the traditional system.
The mechanism, detailed by a senior administration official before
President Bush's State of the Union address, would hold down the cost of
Bush's plan to introduce personal accounts to the Social Security
system. But it could come as a surprise to lawmakers and voters who have
thought of these accounts as akin to an individual retirement account or
a 401(k) that they could use fully upon retirement.
"You'll be able to pass along the money that accumulates in your
personal account, if you wish, to your children . . . or grandchildren,"
Bush said last night. "And best of all, the money in the account is
yours, and the government can never take it away."
The plan is more complicated. Under the proposal, workers could invest
as much as 4 percent of their wages subject to Social Security taxation
in a limited assortment of stock, bond and mixed-investment funds. But
the government would keep and administer that money. Upon retirement,
workers would then be given any money that exceeded inflation-adjusted
gains over 3 percent.
That money would augment a guaranteed Social Security benefit that would
be reduced by a still-undetermined amount from the currently promised
benefit.
In effect, the accounts would work more like a loan from the government,
to be paid back upon retirement at an inflation-adjusted 3 percent
interest rate -- the interest the money would have earned if it had been
invested in Treasury bonds, said Peter R. Orszag, a Social Security
analyst at the Brookings Institution and a former Clinton White House
economist.
"I believe you should be able to set aside part of that money in your
own retirement account so you can build a nest egg for your own future,"
Bush said in his speech.
Orszag retorted: "It's not a nest egg. It's a loan."
Under the system, the gains may be minimal. The Social Security
Administration, in projecting benefits under a partially privatized
system, assumes a 4.6 percent rate of return above inflation. The
Congressional Budget Office, Capitol Hill's official scorekeeper,
assumes 3.3 percent gains.
If a worker sets aside $1,000 a year for 40 years, and earns 4 percent
annually on investments, the account would grow to $99,800 in today's
dollars, but the government would keep $78,700 -- or about 80 percent of
the account. The remainder, $21,100, would be the worker's.
With a 4.6 percent average gain over inflation, the government keeps
more than 70 percent. With the CBO's 3.3 percent rate, the worker is
left with nothing but the guaranteed benefit.
If instead, workers decide to stay in the traditional system, they would
receive the benefit that Social Security could pay out of payroll taxes
still flowing into the system, the official said. Which option would be
best is still unclear because the White House has yet to propose how
severely guaranteed benefits would be cut for those with individual
accounts.
The administration official explained that the "benefit offset" merely
ensures that those who choose personal accounts are not given an unfair
advantage over the traditional system.
"In return for the opportunity to get the benefits from the personal
account, the person forgoes a certain amount of benefits from the
traditional system," the official told reporters. "Basically, the net
effect on an individual's benefits would be zero if his personal account
earned a 3 percent real rate of return. To the extent that his personal
account gets a higher rate of return, his net benefit would increase."
Robert Pozen, a Massachusetts investment executive who served on the
president's Social Security Commission, said the mechanism makes sense.
Workers who draw money out of the Social Security system for their
accounts should have to pay that money back with interest.
But critics of the Bush plan said the proposed "claw back" renders the
whole idea of "personal retirement accounts" virtually meaningless.
Indeed, the system would ultimately look something like a proposal made
by President Bill Clinton, in which the government would have invested
Social Security taxes in the stock market.
That idea was criticized by conservatives because the federal government
could end up choosing winners and losers in the financial markets. But
under the Bush system, the government is still choosing the stocks and
bonds to be bought with Social Security money, said Jason Furman, a
former Clinton administration economist. Individuals would get a limited
choice, and the government would still keep most of the returns.
"They hope people will think they will take on these accounts and after
40 years, they'll have this huge windfall, but that won't happen," said
Dean Baker, co-director of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy
Research. "I think they're trying to confuse people."
Stephen Moore, a conservative supporter of Bush's Social Security
effort, said the mechanism would undermine the president's notion of an
"ownership society."
In a nod to lawmakers worried about the budget deficit, the White House
will also hold down the initial cost of the Social Security plan by
phasing it in over three years, beginning in 2009. The administration
official said funding the individual accounts would cost $754 billion
through 2015. But because of the phase-in, the personal-accounts system
would not be fully effective until 2011.
In its first 10 years, 2009 to 2018, the system would cost more than $1
trillion, Furman said. Between 2019 and 2028, the cost would jump to
about $3.5 trillion, he said.
(c) 2005 The Washington Post Company
Anybody know what's got JNPR in a funk? Is it near a buy??
thx
I'll share some of my crackers with you but you'll have to byow.
(bring your own water)
Maybe it's just me!
The market seems doomed...which makes me think there will be some kind of huge rally to the plus side. I could be wrong, but just when everything looks bleak - when ihubbers sound bleak - the market breathes anew. Could be wrong...dunno. Somebody is gonna like these low prices sooner or later and want in.
Hoping for a rally
Stocks fell in the first 3 weeks of the year; if they fall for a fourth, it could be a tough year.
January 22, 2005: 9:36 PM EST
By Alexandra Twin, CNN/Money Staff Writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks slumped for the first three weeks of the year, a phenomenon either encouraging for the markets, or very worrisome, depending on how you look at it.
The last time the Dow tumbled in the first three weeks of the year, in 1982, the market ended up recovering in the second half of that year and closing higher, according to Ned Davis Research. In fact, 1982 ended up being a pretty good year with the Dow closing higher by 19.6 percent.
And the fifth year of a decade has not been a down year for the market in 120 years, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac.
All good. But here's the problem.
If the market doesn't rally substantially enough this week to not only erase the losses year-to-date, but rather to end higher on the month, all may not be so good.
Since 1950, when January ended lower, the S&P 500 ended the year lower 19 out of 20 times, according to the Almanac.
"There's a lot of earnings for next week, but I don't see what's going to give us a lift," said Donald Selkin, director of research at Joseph Stevens. "If the earnings have been good so far, and stocks have fallen anyway, what could the next wave of earnings do for us, even if they are positive?"
Next week brings earnings from more than 150 S&P 500 companies. Highlights include Microsoft, Nokia, American Express, Altria and SBC Communications. (For a preview of upcoming earnings, click here.)
"Microsoft and Nokia have been beaten down so much that maybe if they say something good, they'll see a bounce," he added. "But Intel and Apple Computer had good things to say and that didn't lift the market, so it may not be enough.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/01/22/markets/sun_lookahead/index.htm
I did get your message jra, thanks. I guess I'll just hold what I bought at 30.70 last week, or sell tomorrow - who knows! This crazy market! Where's Osama already?
Zeev, I feel a bit silly asking this, but are we in the midst of the nassacre? Feels like it's upon us (tomorrow...).
perfection!! congrats.
Well then, we need to do a "Montague"!
January 14, 2005 02:52 PM ET
Stock pick: Analyst taps Panera Bread, QLogic, Ultra Petroleum
Only stocks with potential for ‘maximum investment return’ make it into Morgan Keegan’s Focus List portfolio.
QLogic Corporation
• It makes components for storage area networks. The company supplies computer and server makers with switches, controllers, adapters and software.
• Storage networks are traditionally associated with large enterprises, but mid-sized and smaller companies are starting to embrace the technology.
• “We think there’s a fairly insatiable long-term appetite for data storage,” Guthrie said. “This company had some tough times after the tech bubble (burst). They have come around very strongly.”
• Morgan Keegan sees earnings growth of 20% to 25%, Guthrie said.
• On Wednesday, Smith Barney raised its rating on the stock to “buy” from “hold” and upped its price target to $44.
• On Tuesday, the company raised its fiscal third-quarter profit and revenue forecasts after seeing double-digit growth in demand for some of its network parts.
• Check out why QLogic is among five chip stocks that look like buys to MSN Money columnist Bob Walberg.
• According to Zacks, the average brokerage recommendation for QLogic is hold.
• QLogic on Jan. 14 was rated 10 out of 10 on StockScouter.
Quote Detail / Company News / Interactive Charts
JCOM looks down right healthy right here! I may hold over the weekend...
still selling JCOM today jra??
got that ELX/QLGC thing going on again! lookin' good prior to earnings - but what about those earnings?
Joined in CREE at 27.65
QLGC lookin' good ahead of Jan. 19th earnings...
Look at that JCOM! Earnings out Jan. 31.
TASR heading over 22. today?? wow.
any clue as to where it might go today? i'm in at 20.
jra, did you sell JCOM? i bought some at 30.70 and i have no idea when to sell it!
futures on a bounce...
Maybe a little run here to the close??
Ken, right now I worry most about their weight, lack of outdoor play, and lack of patience. Sorry about your life experience. I've had students who had very strange home lives and some are difficult and fail, others seem to figure out how to do life right - as I call it. By the way...I talk to them about their attitude often. I teach them to play the game (of life) and play it well. In other words, don't let your saggy pants or your poor attitude become more important than your learning, your grades, your future salary, and friends. I think that's the most important thing I teach them all year...how to play the game.
Hey, they could use some investing tips! Great idea!
<<Our kids are so stupid they can't even wear a pair of pants properly, or a ball cap. We have some dumb kids......I see them each day around my home. I am ashamed for their parents for allowing them to degenerate to such a degree. >>
I told this to my 5th graders. I thought they should know what the (general) public thought/believed about how they act and dress and wear their hair. Although I think hair and clothes don't make the person, it does send a message whether they want it to or not. They were actually surprised to hear what others thought of them - especially after we read a novel about a boy who, at one point in the story, enters a hardware store noticing the manager following him around as if he were about to steal something.
Anyway, I told them to prove everyone wrong. Stand up straight, help others without being asked, notice the world around you, dress/think respectfully. They liked the idea of proving adults wrong! Now they're on a mission...
By the way, I don't agree with the "dumb kids" idea. Maybe their parents should be ashamed of themselves. Just a thought.
I saw your earlier post - nice job. I have a bid in now in the after hrs. but it's not filling. My impatience has been my downfall so next week should provide another buying op. Probably anything in the 30.30 - 30.50 range is good - ya think?
I'm thinking 30.05 may have been the low for JCOM...but I could be wrong!
Jerry, are you still thinking 40.00 as a possibility for JCOM??
Well, JCOM is holding up today although the market is a bit shaky.
I teach at a year-round school so I have until 1/18 to cause further wreckage to my portfolio! I'll keep an eye on 30. Thanks.
QLGC and ELX popping as ELX announces preliminary 2nd qtr. results.
This would have been a good day to capture Osama.
hey jra, what's up with our JCOM?? got the blahs.