DOW 20k!!! - the investing thread

crude oil futures are down, in part, because Saudi Arabia has increased production, dumping oil into a somewhat flooded market. They claim it's to punish their OPEC+ partners for cheating on current output agreements but only they know if that is the only reason.
At the same time the Keystone pipeline problem is putting the kabosh on refined products futures here. At least temporarily. HHO dropped a tiny bit here but I haven't seen gas prices drop at least on the retail level. I haven't been watching futures lately. I'm kinda busy boning up on a 40B attempt on the property next door.

 

I don't have much in the way of dry powder right now, but I did change my 401K contributions to be higher for a while, then back it down towards the end of the year so I don't miss the company match. Not sure where the bottom is, but seems like it might be a good time to up my buying.

 

The mainstream media sure does seem to be hyping this current downturn compared to, say, the 2022 downturn. Can't imagine why. </sarcasm>
One question is: will it take two years to recover like the last one ?
My magic 8 ball just laughs when asked.

 

There’s always mega millions… oh dang the ticket price is going up.

 

Is it?
It was lower here a month or so back...$3.19 here now, was $2.80 something...

 

Sarcasm
I was aware that crude is down and gas and diesel is up.

 

I follow my rules currently during govt high spending
My goes 20% cash for dry powder to be invested when market hit bear.. yesterday it went in at close..
Up over 10% now… in 6 hours
I guess even a blind squirrel gets a nut once in blue moon

it won’t stay there This is NOT over yet..

 

Looks like the window or opportunity to buy when prices are low has been slammed shut.

 

The more someone lets the news cycle dictate their emotions, the more reasoning is lost.

 

I invested a bunch of cash yesterday that was sitting in my IRA waiting for the right time. Ended up adding to 2 funds at 2020 prices. If things go down more in the near future, I'm ready to buy more.

 

Our gas always goes up this time of year because they are starting the change over to the summer blend. I am unsure if the gas/propane/HHF tariff hit or if that was paused - that would also affect my local prices. I made sure my propane tank was filled before it was set to hit, so I didn't need to worry about tracking that

I have no idea what the current gas price is here. I filled up 2 weeks ago from tomorrow. Since I WFH, that lasts quite a while. I didn't really "need" gas at the time, I was just making sure I was all set in case the ice storm caused havoc.

Irving stations do a sale every once in a while for a couple of hours, where members get a 20 cent discount over non-member prices (usually it is 10 cents). I happened to hit that - I think my final price was $2.89 at that time.

 

I was able to fill-up yesterday for $2.77/gal. This was at BJ's, similar to Costco/Sams.

 

Yes blacktail Warren is wise his cash pile is a thing of legends

 

Is that why there’s a pause?

 

I couldn’t tell you. Maybe some people “in the club” were given a heads up yesterday morning that it was going to be paused and they bought in bigly, so by market close yesterday they all made out well. You and I aren’t privy to that kind of information. What I do know is a lot of investors that are much more successful than I am don’t worry about short term volatility. We live in a strange era where inflammatory social media posts and sensational headlines have an outsized effect on the market. That was my only real point. Like anything, hindsight is 20/20 so we won’t know for sure how the current policies are going to work out long term. I’m firmly in the wait and see camp rather than all in or all against what’s being implemented. But I’ve got 25+ more years until I retire, so I can afford to tune out some of the noise. If I was much closer to retirement, I’d probably be feeling a bit queasy right now.

 

With covered puts and calls; also collared trades many in market can make $$ with volatility.
BIG difference between trading and investing

 

I guarantee the club had insider info. Biggest perk of being in politics and day trading. My retirement has a freeze period if I move money. If I move it out of stocks I can’t move it again for 90 days. Somebody’s gotta keep it propped up in a downturn.

 

Trump said it was to have time to negotiate with the 70 (90?) or so countries that have called wanting to work things out...makes as much sense to me as anything.