I'm hearing some New Age stuff claiming astrology expects a major stocks crash and that the DOW will fall below 777?

I don't normally go for this but when you play with risk it's easy to get spooked?

If you get spooked by risk you shouldn't be trading.

If astrology were so hot on stocks, everyone with a crystal ball would be richer than the brokerages.

They aren't so I don't see how they can make any claim to have any knowledge of the markets.

Just my opinion.

There's a lot of trader concern on volatility at present. We have huge deficits, a soft economy, and housing bubbles bursting. This isn't a secret. If the atrologers claim to have dates then that's news to me but it sounds more like jumping on a bandwagon thinking its a sure horse.

There's an article on the front of site about the US housing market:
http://www.financemarkets.co.uk/2006...n-in-february/

Markets always have risks. The big problem at present is that there's a huge amount of debt being traded. Debt makes everyone more vulnerable to impact by smaller knocks. The bigger the debt the bigger the vulnerability. The markets are vulnerable at the moment but this and risk are inherent with them anyway.

I couldn't of said it better. Markets are all about risk. Even markets where you haggle the price of a bushel of apples. It's a risk, you might "haggle" the price down to something great, but find the apples to be...rotting on the inside....buy low sell high, etc, etc, if you arent prepared to risk, don't invest. Don't listen to astrology either....seriously.

Astrology? Please..... There is always a risk in the market of sell-off. I've learned over the years it's impossible to time or to know when. Just invest in high quality stocks and funds. Quality always comes back. And if you have funds its a great opportunity to buy cheaper shares. But....avoid margin at all costs. That's when a sell-off can ruin you.

I do not really know if a major crash is on the horizon. For that to happen one would expect a bit of a substantial and unsupported build-up. I think the global economy is going to have some real issues in the next 10 years, but I do not know if a major market crash is one of them. I don't think things have even recovered from the internet boom, so there is not a lot of hollow offerings. It may happen again, but I do not see it.

I do not put much creedence into astrology predictors.

I don't think that I'd believe the psychics who are claiming that the stock market will crash (I also read that they believe Reagan will rise from the dead in 2007, so I'm waiting on that one , but I do know that the market is kind of unstable. Myself, I'm skeptical about investing in such a risky venture, but I'm here to learn more!

Anarch: the market is always risky in the short term but in the long term will pay off assuming you invest in quality stocks and not garbage.

That's what I've always figured, which makes me tiptoe about on eggshells. I want to learn more, I'm curious about trying but in a situation where I don't have a lot of money to start off with, I'm very leery about risking any of it.

I played a stock market game back in high school and did horrible with it. I seem to have a knack for picking the bad ones lol. Still trying to learn though. I haven't given up yet!

Anarch: How long do you want to hold the money for? Is this money you'll be saving for years? Or is it money that you're going to need and if you are, when? That should be the biggest determining factor in how you invest.

As I build up my portfolio, I am going extremely conservative. I like to gamble, but only when the risk is reasonable. I just don't see that many good long-term investments that appeal to my sensibilities to me. Unfortunately I might make a lot more money if I loosened my conservative inhibitions.

Sorry, I was busy poking my voodoo doll, while consulting my dead chicken for tommorows lotto numbers.......

According to the rat pellets and the shrunken head....the market will crash in 2010, right as the earth is destroyed.......

point being.......

you cannot predict things based on the stars.

The Dow is plunging today because of a high CPI. Maybe we will get that crash..Just kidding. No need to panick. Just hold tight.