Chfleming1's Blog

Wednesday 12/9/09

chfleming1 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:50:11 +0000

Well, the game is over. I can’t say it was the most fun experience of my life but it was insightful and was fun while it lasted. I learned alot about equity and stocks. I know that sounds really general but I learned what stocks to watch and to read the paper and pay attention to the patterns of stocks and really consider if they are promising before you invest. During the game, I invested in many different stocks. I had Pepsi, which ended up gaining me only a few hundred bucks, Kraft which lost me a few hundred, Mastercard which I made a killing off of by buying it low and selling it at its market high, Budweiser which I played with a lot by buying it on Mondays and selling it on Fridays when the beer sales were up for Saturday football, Etrade which I regret every even thinking about buying because it ended up losing me over $2,000 and was probably my biggest mistake of the game, Dick’s which didn’t do much for me at all positive or negative, Apple which made me alot and then it dropped before I sold it so it only made me a thousand or so, Thomas & Betts which ended up doing really well for me an earning me a few thousand, and then I ended the game with Macy’s, Exxon Mobile, and Hershey’s which lost me $4,000 in the last 2 weeks of the game; buying those three was probably my 2nd biggest mistake of the game. Overall, I finished in 7th place, which is good I guess because my goal was originally to place in the top 10 and then when I was up in 4th place it was to stay in the top 5th but ever since I started dropping, I decided that being in the top 10 was still pretty good. In total, I turned $100,000 into $104,907.01 which I think is decent. I mean its not Luke Poole material but its still pretty good. At least I was in the minority of the class that actually made money instead of lost money. All in all, it was a good experience and I had a great time playing it and I learned alot about stocks and how to invest smartly when the time comes for me to start investing.

Monday 12/7/09

chfleming1 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:59:36 +0000

Today, Macy’s went up, and Hershey’s and Exxon continued to go down. Macy’s is doing decent, its up +0.38% since Friday, but is still losing me -$120.75. Its not that bad I guess, compared to the -$300 it was losing me in the middle of last week. However, its still not doing me any good. Exxon went down -0.17% and is losing me -$1,089. This is killing me horribly. It just took a nose dive since last week and hasn’t stopped yet. I still don’t understand how all of these Christmas season stocks which would shoot up with the holidays are plummeting. It makes no sense at all. This also shows in my shares of Hershey. That stock is down -0.03% and is losing me -$355. Once again, its not a huge loss but its not helping me out at all and further dropping me in the stats. I am now at only $105,255.26 which is a drop of about $2,000 from the end of last week. I don’t really care though since the game closes after school today. I mean there’s no possible way that I can catch up and make over $14,000 worth of equity to beat Luke. But oh well, like I said, it was a good game and I learned alot, but at this point I don’t really care about making more money.

Friday 12/4/09

chfleming1 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:50:19 +0000

Today, all of my stocks kind of stayed where they were. My stocks of Exxon and Hershey’s continued to put me in the red, losing me a combined total of -$2,367. At this point, I really don’t care anymore. I mean, the stock market game closes on Monday after school and since I’m in 8th place and $15,000 behind the leader, there’s no way I could win unless Jesus smiles upon Exxon, Macy’s and Hershey’s. My shares of Macy’s went up a little bit, but not enough to make a difference at all. I just hope that they will go up a little bit so I can at least get in the top 5 places. Oh well, I’m not gonna worry about it too much. Like I said, there’s pretty much no hope in me making it to 1st. But it was a good game, I learned alot, and it was pretty enlightening on how the stock market works and what to look for when investing and whatnot. Even though I didn’t make the serious bank I thought I would, I still learned alot about the market which is pretty good I guess.

Thursday 12/3/09

chfleming1 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:58:34 +0000

Today, all my stocks went down. For some odd reason, none of the “seasonal” companies are doing well at all. I guess its all because of the falling economy. Oh well. My Exxon dropped another -0.03 points, my Hersheys dropped -0.01 points. My Macy’s went up, however, it is still losing me -$190. Since the game is over Monday, I think I’m just gonna sell all my stocks tomorrow and see what happens. I don’t really care anymore whether I win or lose since I’m in 8th place I think I did good enough. I’m at $106,439 which isn’t bad but I hoped to make at least $110,000 before the game was over. Oh well, I’m done with the game.

Wednesday 12/2/09

chfleming1 — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:38:35 +0000

Today, all of my stocks went up. Macy’s went up +0.29% but is still losing me -$129. Exxon Mobil went up -0.25% from its -0.29% it was at yesterday and is earning me +$432. Hershey Co went up +0.17% but is still losing me -$280. I also went up to 8th place. But it must have been because somebody else’s net worth dropped because I’m at the exact same equity I was at yesterday and have been all this week. My daily return is -0.01%, my weekly return is -0.81%, my monthly return is +8.70%, and my total return is +6.48%. Also, I’m sitting on a net worth of $106,843. I plan on keeping all my stocks for a while as the holiday season will affect all the companies in a positive way. For example, Hershey will be selling alot of candy, Macy’s will be having blowout sales and selling a lot of clothes, and Exxon will be selling a lot of gas since I read in the newspaper than another 4,000,000 people will be traveling by car over Christmas rather than by plane. Since I’m rising in profit slowly but surely, I am just going to sit back and see where these stocks take me. As of now, I’m still looking into other stocks that have potential to shoot up before the Stock Market game is over next Thursday.

12/1/09

chfleming1 — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:53:14 +0000

Today, I went back up considerably. I am still in 9th place, however, I went back up to $106,802.91. That is a big leap from yesterday when I was down in the $105,000′s. My shares of Exxon Mobil went up +1.05% and is gaining me $711 which is pretty nice. I am going to sit on XOM for awhile though as the Christmas season will surely be good to the oil companies as people travel. My shares of Macy’s went up a few points from yesterday, however it is still at -0.14% and is losing me $148.50. Which really isn’t all that bad and I’m sure its price will rise just like Exxon’s because of the season. Hershey is up +0.38%, however, it is still losing me $579.90 which is a let down, but I am considering selling it when it comes back up to the price I bought it at. Other than that, my daily return is +1.22%, my weekly return is -1.29%, my month’s return is +7.34%, and my total return is +6.80%. So far so good I guess, even though I fell back to 9th, I’m sure I can get back in the top five because my stocks are pretty safe and they are on a steady increase.

11/30/09

chfleming1 — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:46:13 +0000

Today, not a lot happened. I dropped down to 9th place and I’m in all negatives since all my stocks dropped. Exxon and Macy’s especially plummeted because I did not get on over the Thanksgiving break to sell them at the peak price. Hershey went down too but only by a few cents, I’m down to 105,740. However, I’m sure my shares of Exxon and Macy’s will continue to go up as people will be traveling alot during the Christmas season and Macy’s is having a lot of sales right now. Hershey on the other hand I think may be kind of just stabilizing right now and not doing much. Oh well, I will just have to sit back and play this one by ear.

Tuesday 11/24/09

chfleming1 — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:45:32 +0000

Today, I bought 900 shares of Exxon Mobil before the market opened because I had 1st period in the 501 computer lab. I bought this stock based on the news article I read that said 3,000,000 some-odd people are traveling by car instead of by plane for the Thanksgiving holiday. This way, gas companies will rake in billions of dollars and therefore the stocks will shoot up. It already has since I bought it, jumping from $75.31 to $75.92 which earned me $549 already. I plan to sell all my shares of XOM either tomorrow or Thursday when it is at its peak market price. This way, I hope to make a killing. Also keeping in line with the excess sales in the holiday seasons, I bought 1,000 shares of Hershey Co since their candy products and such will shoot up over these next few weeks with Christmas and Thanksgiving. I plan to keep my hands on HSY though since it will probably increase more as it gets closer to Christmas. Other than that, I’m still in 7th place, but my total equity shot up another $1,000 bringing me to $107,656.21. My daily return is +0.71%, my weekly return is 0.00%, my monthly return is +2.37%, and my total return is +7.66%. XOM is up +0.22% and HSY is up +0.22% since I purchased them yesterday at the close of the stock and this morning before it opened. Hopefully, everything will do as planned and I will be rolling in the benjamins.

Monday 11/23/09

chfleming1 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:29:07 +0000

Today, I decided to finally get rid of my last stock; Etrade. This stock has gone up progressively over the last three weeks from $1.35 to $1.65. Even though I bought it at $1.75, I decided enough was enough and $450 lost was okay considering the lessining of the gap between the loss I did have with this stock. Since I have no other stocks, I decided to get on marketwatch.com and find a new stock on the rise to invest in. I found Hershey Co. which has hit its daily low at $36.25 but is on the Bullish Side by 67%. Hopefully with the coming holidays, the increased demand of their candy products will shoot up and I will get a nice profit. Other than that, I dropped from 5th to 7th. Not because my stocks went down but because others’ went up. My daily return is +0.05%, my weekly return is +1.48%, my monthly return is +2.23%, and my total return is +6.86%; and I’m sitting pretty at $106,860.01. Also, with the selling of my 5,000 shares of Etrade, I gained an extra $8,000 worth of buying power. I will be keeping my eye out for new stocks on the rise for the holiday seasons like mattel, hershey’s, and other companies that produce seasonal products.

Friday 11/20/09

chfleming1 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:00:24 +0000

Yesterday, I did not post a blog entry on account of the long lesson on home finance taught by the greatest teacher alive, Coach Kelly. However, today, I moved up to 5th place! All my sell limits for Thomas & Betts and Anheusur-Busch went through. So my total equity is up to $106,735.01! The only stock I have left is Etrade and that went up about 10 cents from last week, however, is still at about 11 cents less than I bought it for. I am still in the hole -$575. To make up for this, I am putting a sell limit on Etrade for $1.70. That way, I can make a little bit more profit and I can finally get rid of that stock. I’m also gonna keep watch on Motorola and Verizon so that when it finally starts going up over the whole DROID phone coming out, I can get in on that. Other than that, my daily return is 0%, my weekly return is +3.39%, my month’s return is +2.55%, and my total return is +6.76%. It’s good to be in the green and I’m pretty happy about being in 5th place. From here on out, I’m just going to keep going at a steady increase and hopefully I’ll get into first.