Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Nikkei crashing

Japan had the greatest earthquake in its history, of magnitude 8.9. This triggered a tsunami that devastated the eastern and mostly northern part of Japan island. Due to the specter of possible nuclear meltdown over the nuclear power stations situated in Japan and consequently damaged during the natural calamity, Nikkei crashed very badly. The first day it crashed around 6% and today it crashed another 10%. That's a very bad crash, bringing Nikkei below 10k mark to around 8.6k.


This is a historical moment in the financial world, so I'll snap a shot of the crash of Nikkei. Horrific really.




Stock market do not take kindly to uncertainty. Due to the tsunami and earthquake combo causing widespread damage, which is immediately followed by the overhanging of the possible nuclear meltdown, there is panic selling in Japan that spreads globally too.


Makes me wonder whether the time to buy and hold for long term is truly over, given the more and more frequent black swan events happening around the globe in recent years. However, it is not my place to comment on this. I just know what I have to do. Sell some and buy some. There's nothing to be emotional about your losses. Just take it stoically and be thankful that what we lost is just money. There are others out there who might have lost their entire home and even the lives of their loved ones.

9 comments :

Createwealth8888 said...

Buy and sell; and do it again is the way to go. LOL

Anonymous said...

Buy and sell - either buy low sell high, or buy high sell higher. Otherwise die.

Anonymous said...

Buy now progressively when everyone is selling.
Sell progressively when everyone starts buying again.
You will end up better than the rest.

CreateWealth8888 said...

Is Buy and Hold dead?

Anonymous said...

"Is Buy and Hold dead?"

No, No, No. Unless you believe there never will be a Super Bull Charge ever again. In fact almost everyone of us(me included, due to fear)always sell when we can only see the Bull's Horn not even the Bull's head not to mention the Bull's torso. Ha! Ha!

Createwealth8888 said...

Read? Is Buy and Hold Dead?

PanzerGrenadier said...

Hi LP

I nibble at the blue chips I am eyeing but still stay clear of being 100% invested in equities.

Slowly bought a bit but still have 40% in cash and 60% in equities.

Different strokes for different folks.

Be well and prosper.

la papillion said...

Hi bro8888,

Thks for your views on this :) I guess buy and hold and forget has never been alive, even in the heady days of the past.

Hi anonymous 1,

That's what we aim for in the stock market, isn't it? haha

Hi anonymous 2,

It's what bro8888 had mentioned all the time - buy slowly and sell slowly :)

la papillion said...

Hi Temperament,

I'm not so experienced to see the Bull's charge from the bull's horn, haha :) It's really hard to hold all the way throughout a market cycle.

Hi PG,

Keep your poweder dry eh? Haha, a prudent and wise course of action to prepare for opportunities :)