You often hear the advice to “Buy on the dips” and you may be thinking that it’s time to take advantage of this current pullback by taking some positions in the stocks you have been watching so carefully, and I was tempted too, but only momentarily-so, and that’s because it is beginning to look more like something of a bigger correction is about to happen.

It has been another day of really widespread distribution and those that hold positions should be protecting them with hedges.

By a bigger correction I mean down to any of the previous support or resistance levels shown on the S&P 500 Index chart below in green, and maybe a 3 to 5% correction or even as much as 10% — and you don’t want to be caught in that if it happens and the thing is that we will recover and there will be time then to take positions. It always works that way.

In the chart below you can also see that we have broken below the uptrend line [marked in orange] that has held since December last and we have also fallen below the blue line indication the 50-day moving average. These are reference points that this stock market basics site has referred to in the past and as such are watched by many traders who like to get an instant picture of what is happening in the market.

To have a correction in this fashion is actually good for the market, it’s like the market needs to take a pause, take a breather once in a while before resuming it’s upward progress, so if the correction is say 5% or so, it should help set up for the next leg and hopefully resume the former upward trend on through to the end of the year (that’s just the opinion of stock market basics mind you, nobody really knows but this is also an election year and that traditionally provides a winning market.)

Chart of S&P 500 11 April 2012

So while we are waiting, why not build a new watch list? I have my own ideas getting ready for the turnaround.

A new earnings season
Earnings season has started with Alcoa announcing a surprising first quarter profit that pushed the stock up 6.2% t0 $9.90. And if there should be enough similar announcements from the corporations that will now follow with their results and forecasts, that may well create the base for the next upward leg in this market.

Stock Market Basics will continue to watch the charts and we will be looking for those simple patterns of stock movement that have a record of signalling a time to enter, or exit, positions that have a high average likelihood of success. We will build a watch list and a paper trading portfolio of stocks that meet the stock-chart criteria and in that way it will be seen in real-time whether those stock patterns do actually turn out to be winners — or otherwise.

Note: We did pretty good with the last Stock market Basics Watchlist, I see that there are still 7 out of the 10 choices that are winners, shown below is the watchlist, and for the record, I will look back in the files to see when we posted it here on this website and update this post accordingly.

This table is reproduced from the Yahoo Finance website that tracks the hourly and daily transactions and closing prices that are pertinent to the 10 stocks listed. They are my choices of a few months ago and which Yahoo monitors and I have no way of changing the results, the table shows what really happened since inception up until today.

Breaking through Resistance
One of my favorite and simple trading strategies is to buy a stock when it breaks out through overhead resistance to a new high. It is well-known that stocks reaching new highs often continue their upward trend and continue to make further gains.

As a chart watcher, when I see a breakout occurring, like the one mentioned above, I would also hope to see some confirming patterns in the shorter-term moving averages, such as those of the 5-day and 10-day, that can be seen on the chart for KOG shown below, where the 5-day is the red line and the 10-day is the blue line. On that same chart for KOG, I also check the RSI (relative strength index), the mini-graph at the top and the MACD (moving average convergence divergence), the mini-graph below the main KOG chart.

For a simple interpretation of those indicators, I will just point out that
1.  the RSI is currently confirming an upward move,
2. the moving averages show that the daily trading range must be above the red line to be positive, and
3. the MACD has currently not confirmed the positive with a cross-over, as in the blue circles, but looks to soon do so — we will await the closing prices for the next few days to see if that takes place.

Of course, that is just an interpretation, there is no way to really be sure of what will happen.

• The Best Oil Stocks Today at Motley Fool [Fri, Mar 9]
• Today’s Commodity News To Trade On at Seeking Alpha [Fri, Mar 9]
• 4 Drillers Under Short Attack at Seeking Alpha [Thu, Mar 8]

I read those stories and any others that are relevant and easy to find. The comments in those articles may not be in agreement with each other but from them I gain relevant information of interest in support, or otherwise, of my decision to make a trade based on the previously mentioned stock chart pattern. There is a lot of other useful information and data available from many other such sources and I recommend it as a good way to gain an insight into the stock market basics as seen by other traders and financial commentators.

And here is what happened recently in my KOG trade:
The orange horizontal line on the above chart shows the stock price high reached on January 7 — which then became a level of resistance. After that, in the following days, KOG fell to around the 8.50 mark and then the stock turned around again and resumed its upward trend and this time broke through the January 7 resistance level at about 10.35.

In accordance with the above explanation of how I follow the charts, I took that as a buy signal and bought stock at 10.33 on February 21. As the chart shows, this stock moved up to 10.75 at which point it turned around and fell to around 9.00 in a period of about  seven days. So much for my forecast based on the chart patterns and a good object lesson that keeps you humble.

Sold for a loss
Regarding the exit point, by following another general guideline commonly in use and referred to in the past on this stock market basics site, I exited the stock when it fell by a pre-established percentage of 8% more or less. That should have been at about 9.50 but with a lot of action at that time on a falling stock it was not possible to get the target price, my actual sale price was 9.18, a loss of about 10%.

An 8% loss is the recommended amount of loss to take on a losing trade in order to preserve capital, that’s according to trading experts such as William O’Neil, publisher of Investor’s Business Daily, mentioned elsewhere on this website.

In conclusion
In making this play, I followed the stock market basic guidelines but this time did not get a winner, nevertheless, experience has taught me that this particular strategy often provides a profit within a short period of time usually less than two or three months. The target going in was to achieve a 25 to 35% gain within 3 to 4 months. In that way, that particular amount of working capital would have been available for three or four more speculations of the same type and time duration.

Next question for you to think about:

Since KOG has again reversed and is heading back up . . . when would you place a trade to re-enter? (assuming you believe, as I do, that KOG has a good future and will likely move higher before too long). Maybe I will comment tomorrow or soon, and give my own opinion and maybe make a trade too.

In spite of repeated bad news about Greece, Portugal, and the Euro zone, the market seems to be ignoring the uncertainties there and many analysts seem to be of the opinion we are in for a few months of bullish stock market activity.

Our objectives
The objective of this stock market basics website is to introduce newcomers to stock market trading in a number of ways, such as by pointing out well-known guidelines to manage risk in buying and selling stocks, by providing examples of stock chart analysis and techniques that can aid the trader in deciding when to enter or exit stock positions and, from time to time, engaging in paper trading activities.

Time for a new paper trading exercise
Now might be a good time to undertake any other stock market basics paper trading routine to see whether we can show how profitable trades may be made if the market really does continue its upward progress for the next few months.

Stocks for paper trading
Following my usual methods for finding stock candidates to trade, as explained elsewhere on this stock market basics trading website, I will make a pretend purchase of approximately 10 stocks and set up a Finance.Yahoo portfolio to track them live in real time on a day-to-day basis. In that way we can see whether our methods of selecting stocks and the guidelines for trading him are effective. And it can be fun if we choose winning stocks!

The selected stocks will be chosen after reference to their stock charts to see that they exhibit one of our typical breakout patterns that we believe indicates potential continued price gains. For illustrative purposes I will use the StockCharts.com charts that are available free of charge and which I urge others to also use for reference purposes. StockCharts.com also has paid services that are worth looking into for the active trader.

The stocks (by symbol) with closing prices as of February 6, 2012
HAL, TER, ELN, NUAN,  NVDA, HXL, ASML, UPS, SSO, QQQ

For future reference, I will try to post charts for some or all of the above stocks tomorrow.

Some of the articles listed below are older topics posted to this stock market basics website in the past that may possibly of interest for reference only.

Note: Click on the charts for a slightly enlarged and sharper view.

Chart of S&P 500, January 20 at the close

A mere glance at this stock index tells the story
The breakout occured with the move above 1300 and its continuation on the following days.

But many traders recognize the possibility of a fallback and will be watching events in the near-future carefully, However, more than one hundred corporations will soon be reporting earnings and prospects and if these announcements are good, as expected from previous indications, then we could be setting up for a move up to the 1360 high reached late last April, 2010, see chart below.

Chart of S&P 500 Showing 2010 Maket Top

A simple interpretation for stock market beginners
As can be seen in the first chart shown above, the most recent upward trend commenced towards the end of December, when the market closed above the 20-day moving average shown by the blue line.

After moving up from the December low at about 1160, it can be seen that there was a steady upward climb over the following weeks until early January 2012, when it began to consolidate, as it often does, moving mostly sideways. But after a few days of difficulty getting above 1300, an obvious resistance level, it finally broke above 1300. That 1300 now becomes a first level of support should the market experience a turn down.

Editor’s Note: I should have removed the Blue and Red lines that run accross the chart, they are not relevant at this stage although the blueline which shows the 50 day moving average is considered by many to be important and defines a level at which stocks should not be below in a bull market phase. The Red line is the 200 day moving average line, also a key reference level in some circumstances.

About the Stock Market for Beginners
Being a website targeted at readers who are new to trading and in the early throes of learning the stock market basics, I urge every newcomer to become acustomed to looking at stock charts in the simple way that I do and illustrate here on this Stock Market Basics website. There are postings about stock charts elsewhere on this website.

I also constantly urge anyone new to trading and now wishing to learn the stock markete basics before actually diving into the waters of stock speculation, to read, listen, and watch, whenever possible, to begin to build a fund of practical knowledge and trading tips. I have often listed such sources on other posts on this website and will just mention one source I myself like to check out from time to time, never knowing what I may learn. Today’s suggestion is to go to Finace.Yahoo.com’s Daily Ticker — you can find it by going to the Yahoo.Finance tab at far left at top of the Home Page, under the “Exclusives” drop-down box. This one specifically is worth a visit now: Gut Check Coming.

I do not like the term “dummies” and I only use it here to make a simple point, not to put anyone down, so to speak. The truth is that without an understanding of the stock market basics, it is unlikely a trader will be successful and without a knowledge of basic guidelines to follow, trading would often be no better than leaving your money at the casino.

Start small and learn the “ropes” gradually
When someone has been around the block a few times and traded in the “Market” for years, their first word of advice to the eager newcomer is that this is not a game. This is not betting on the Broncos vs. the Patriots, this is business with your money and your retirement as part of the equation.

You can make money by trading stocks, but some losses are inevitable
I would suggest that it is best to start in a small way so that any losses that may occur will not be devastating but can be limited to an amount that can be tolerated and can be seen as a cost of a learning process that brings you out of the “stock market for dummies” category. There are ways to limit losses but it takes action. And everyone experiences losses, especially in the early days of learning how to trade.

Stock brokers and education
You need to approach stock trading with a maximum of education even if you use a broker. The stockbroker wants you to make money and to continue to make winning trades, because that’s good for business. But the brokers have their own agenda and you need to understand this if you use them. They get their commission in part for trading stocks and selling what the company finds attractive. They are not in business to see your portfolio increase since they do not get a percentage of the “profits” but rather they receive sales commissions. It is to their advantage to have you buy and sell stocks since they make their money on trades. That said, many brokers are good guys with your best interest at heart, but be aware.

Read all you can, books and items by William J. O’Neil, Peter Lynch, and others and columns such as John Waggoner’s in USA Today on Fridays for example, or go to the website SeekingAlpha. The more you learn the better you will be able to assess the merits of the information provided. Not everyone comes to the same conclusions about given stock or market situations, so with conflicting viewpoints offered, you, the trader, must make the judgement – aided by your existing fund of knowledge and accumulated experiences. The more you read the more you will understand and the better investor you will likely become, but it takes time and effort.

Online trading
But most trading is done online these days, without the aid of a broker, especially in the case of the small trader, who is classed in the category of “retail trader” as opposed to the bigger professional traders whose combined actions comprise, by far, the greatest portion of all trading in the stock market and thus responsible for most of the movement in their underlying stocks of interest.

The stock market is not for the faint at heart, but there always opportunities to make money. Buy and hold may not be the best option as the market has periods where it swings like a tempestuous pendulum.

So what are some of the basic guidelines?
While these suggestions are aimed at the so-called stock market for dummies category of newcomer to trading, actually they also often guide the decisions of some of the biggest, most successful, and most famous traders of all time. These guidelines, and many others, are discussed in greater detail in separate posts elsewhere on this website and can be found listed there by going to: Stock Market Basics Guide. The more experienced and expert trader can successfully break the rules and still make gains but for the beginner, such rules should be learned and adhered to.

Up or down markets
As a trader, you can make money in the stock market regardless of whether the market is moving up or down but the beginning trader is usually more comfortable trading when the market is primarily moving up over a period of time.
So from that comes a basic guideline:

• Don’t trade against the trend. Don’t buy stocks when the market is falling, if there are stocks that you believe are really worth more than their current price in a falling market then wait until they reach a “bottom” and turn around, once that is confirmed, they can be bought on the way back up. Do not “average down”.
• Cut losses early. Sometimes expectations for your stock don’t pan out, be alert, if the stock starts to decline, regardless of the reason (which may not be connected to the actual stock itself) be ready to sell. If the stock price falls by about 8% or so from its recent high, it’s time to exit the position. Take the money and move on.
• Let your profits run. When a stock does rise in price the objective is to capture as much of the potential gain as possible, without being too greedy and waiting too long of course and having to watch those gains evaporate. Remember, however much higher the price, you won’t book a profit until the winning stock is sold. It can be tricky sometimes. There is a trading routine called a “Stop Loss” that might be appropriate in this situation, explained elsewhere.

There are many more guidelines to become familiar with but I will just close with an often quoted rule attributed to the great Warren Buffet:

• Rule #1 Do not lose money
• Rule #2 Remember and follow Rule #1

On the positive side, it is an election year, which historically provides a profitable stock market, although this is still a time highly negatively impacted by the Eurozone financial problems and also potential crisis situations in the middle east. However, short term we should be ready to take advantage of an up-trading market that appears to be forming but subject to breaking through current resistance levels on improved volume (higher volume).

For the week commencing January 09, 2012, as a cautious small trader, I am watching the S&P 500 index (SPX), since it represents the broader market than does either the DOW or Nasdaq.

Right now, as can be seen in the chart below, it has paused at about 1280, just below the resistance level shown by the yellow horizontal line on the chart, having moved up gradually from the previous low just above 1200 around December 19 when we last posted the SPX chart here.

Chart of S&P 500 Index, as of 09 January 2012, 3:00 pm

Still waiting
We were waiting then, and we wait now, but if the market can move higher and break through the present resistance level at about 1285 (let us say a close above 1300 would be a god sign, especially if accompanied by increased volume) we could reasonably expect some gains in the following weeks for stocks which have good earnings potential and some have already established breakouts through their own individual price levels.

Target
The target for the S&P Index would be to get back to the previous high of late April, 2011, around the 1370 level. There will probably be some ups and downs but that target seems realistic to me.

Learn about stock charts
That is why it is a good idea for beginning traders, who are learning the stock market basics, to learn as much as possible about stock charts and how to interpret, at least at a simple level, the price and volume activities the charts depict. What I mostly look for is a breakout from a trading range, or a breakout above a resistance level or below a support level. Most of those simple aspects are referred to elsewhere on this Stock Market Basics website, but there are plenty of other more detailed sources that can be found with a little effort.

The objective of this stock market basics website is to provide information to the would-be stock market trader in order to provide an introductory level of basic information to help guide future stock trading activities.

 The motivation to start trading in the stock market is to make money. However, the stock market is frequently where people lose money fast, especially those with little knowledge and who are unprepared for the unexpected reversals the stock market so often exhibits – as it has been doing in recent weeks.

There is a saying “If you think education is expensive, consider the cost of ignorance”. I think that trading in the stock market validates that aphorism. Stock market trading can often be a challenging pursuit for even the experienced and best informed participants.

 Basic rules to trade by:

Trading rules cannot guarantee a profit but it can really help to know them, understand them, and follow them. Many well-known and proven unofficial trading rules, which we refer to here as the stock market basics guidelines, are followed almost automatically by experienced traders. Among the most fundamental are the following five:

1. Trade with the trend. Be sure you know the current trend, whether it be up or down or sideways. A stock chart will inform you at a glance whether a trend is rising or falling or sideways. A sideways trend is often referred to as being “rangebound”.
2. Cut losses quickly but let profits run. Risk management at it’s best.
3. Bulls make money, bears make money, but pigs get slaughtered! A modification of # 2 is: Be ready to take a profit. While not wishing to exit too soon from a winning position, reversals can often occur quite suddenly. If you are not alert to that possibility a nice apparent profit evaporates quickly, keep in mind, a profit only becomes a reality when a winning position is sold.
4. Do not add to a losing position. When already holding a long position, do not average down, meaning do not buy more stock when the stock’s price declines substantially as indicated by it’s falling trend line.
5. Buy Strength, Sell Weakness. Stocks that trade up to their 52-week highs frequently continue to trade even higher. Stocks that trade at their 52-week lows are more likely to continue to go lower.

A look at the broad market as depicted by the S&P 500
A quick look at the weekly chart for the S&P 500 stock index indicates we are mostly range bound at this time, 21 December, 2011. Perhaps the first thing that many traders are looking for is a breakout above the trading range and to a continuation above the 50 week moving average, shown as the blue line in the chart below. Another possibility, of course, is a breakout on the downside to below the 200 week moving average, the red line on the chart, but that is less likely I  believe.

Much of the recent activity has been governed by the uncertainty regarding what will happen in the euro zone and whether the several financial crises there will be overcome. The stock market dislikes uncertainty.

Chart of S&P 500 21 December 2.17 pm

What’s in the near future?
I was just reading that, except for 2008, most recent election years have provided positive upside gains, so that would be a good starting bias going into 2012. Also, most corporate earnings projections are strongly positive, giving additional reasons for optimism that we can end the year in strong fashion with an equally positive following quarter through to the end of March.

While it may be best to stay on the sidelines at this time we should be ready with some potential stock candidates to trade if and when we break through the above-mentioned blue 200 moving average resistance line, which could be very soon.

On the October 14 weekend, two weeks ago, we posted the following chart of the S&P 500 that showed the market had closed right at the upper boundary of a trading range that it had occupied for about 10 weeks, asking ourselves whether we would move up or down from there.

Note: Click on the chart for a slightly sharper view.

Chart of SPX 500 14 October close

The second chart below shows what subsequently has happened and updates the market action until the close on Friday, October 28, as depicted by the S&P 500 index. The chart shows that the breakthrough above resistance has actually occurred, helped mainly by both positive corporate earnings announcements and a lessening of tensions and uncertainty about the European debt crisis concerning the bailpout of Greece. But the problems of Greece, Italy, and Spain are still acting like a cloud hovering over the market, so possible reversals must still be watched for.

Chart of S&P 500 28 October

The Market currently overbought
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) shown at the top of the accompanying chart indicates that the market is in overbought territory. That usually means we can expect a small correction, so rather than chase the market at the current highs, many traders will await the expected dip before taking a position or two. If there are no negative announcements to roil the market, support should follow, making this a suitable entry point.

With many quality stocks currently at low prices, we are hoping that more big-time players will return to the market providing an increase in volume and a continuing uptrend in stock prices as we head into the year end. If that does happen, our Stock Market Basics Paper Trading Portfolio, shown below, has many of the right stocks that can illustrate typical stock price patterns that occur and that traders can often use to assist them in determining the entry or exit levels at which to take action on stocks of interest. For instance, the recent breakout, shown by the green arrow on the chart, would be considered by many to be an entry signal.

We should review the stock charts of each of the ten stocks in the Stock Market Basics paper trading portfolio to see what signals they provide, if any, and from there we can follow their progress for a while to see whether those apparent signals really were predictive.

A good example of increasing daily volume accompanying an accelerating trend direction can be seen on the charts. It was for a relatively short period and it accompanied a downward trend. The vertical bars along the bottom of the main chart (not the smaller MACD chart) represent the trading volume for each day and from late July until about August 10 thay show that an increase in volume occurred.

Here is the Stock Market Basics Portfolio/Watch List  as of market close on October 28, 2011:
(Our target is to gain an average of 25% by year end or soon after.)
The previous version as of October 14 can be seen here.

Stock Market Basics Portfolio - Watch List as of October 28

After a good week for the S&P 500, as can be seen on the chart below, and the Alcoa announcement of a few days ago, Earnings Season has arrived.

While Alcoa’s quarterly earning were a little under the street’s reduced estimates,  they carried with them a positive outlook projecting future growth that could fuel stock market gains going forward. The chart tells the story to date where, for almost 3 months, the S&P has been confined to the trading range indicated between the two horizozntal green lines on the chart below, the uncertainties over the European debt situation have greatly contributed to the highs and lows of the period.

Conclusion
However, for small traders like us, it pays to be patient until we can see a confirmed breakout, either up or down, before re-entering the market. The charts will indicate when that occurs. Meanwhile, our Watch List/Trading List is still in force and valid for our future paper trading activities. At this time, the group of stock as a whole is currently showing an acceptable accumulated small percentage loss (1.1%) since it was initiated in September, but we know the list includes some very good stocks at depressed prices.

However, with the high volatility in the market of late, triggered by continued uncertainties on several fronts, our list may well show a much larger loss over the short term, although a series of good earnings announcements should help the cause, but generally it is hoped that the market will eventually breakout above the levels indicated on the above chart and provide good results into the end of the year.

Explanation: Why we Paper Trade stocks
The stocks in the list were assembled with a bullish bias, and are referred to here only as a learning device. Watching the stocks in real time as they trade over a period of time in this way, enables a newcomer to watch what happens as the stocks fluctuate in price but without actually having to participat using real money. Observing the stock market price fluctuations and seeing the trading price activity depicted in the form of a stock charts should help the observer to identify patterns that typically occur and tend to be repeated by other stocks at other times, the point being that some patterns tend to be indicative of future price movement.

Watching and interpreting the stock charts is sometimes referred to as ‘technical analysis’ although it is not a science or mathematical based activity, but for many who use the stock charts in this manner, it can be helpful in supporting decisions to enter or exit a stock position.

Our Stock Market Basics Paper-trading Portfolio
The Stock Market Basics Paper-trading Portfolio can be seen separately by using the computer mouse to click on the chart below. The chart is obtained from entries made on Yahoo.financ.com, and updated in real time on the Yahoo site with a 15 minute time lag. The data shown below summarizes the paper trading positions as of the close of trading on October 14, 2011. I find Yahoo Finance to be a very useful site for not only tracking a portfolio but also for obtaining up-to-date charts and news on individual stocks merely by entering their respective symbols in the “Get Quotes” box at to left of the display (beneath the HOME tab).

Paper-trading Portfolio October 14

It’s early yet, but we need to get acquainted with the stocks in our portfolio and how they are performing in the real-time stock market. The stocks and their performance are shown on the chart at the end of this post, the chart has been obtained from the Finance.Yahoo.com website that allows anyone who registers with Yahoo to enter a list of stocks to track as a portfolio or a Watch List, free of charge, and which Yahoo then updates constantly during the day as the stocks fluctuate in price — a valuable resource that everyone wishing to learn about the stock market basics should become familiar with and use.

While we are mentioning resources, another one that’s free that the stock market basics learner should be aware of and utilize frequently is StockCharts.com — a great chart source where the display data can be modified by the user to suit individual time and indicator preferences, and moving averages, among other variables. That is where we get the charts we use on this website.

Before reviewing the entire list of the stocks in our new paper-trading portfolio, let us first take a look at the chart of the S&P 500 index, that shows the action of the general market to date — this can be compared with the chart of the S&P 500 shown on our post on September 1st — or you can just observe on the following September 16 chart what action has occurred in the 2 weeks since September 1st.

Note: Click on chart to enlarge slightly for a sharper view

Chart of S&P 500 to September 16 close

So what do we see on the chart?
There have been some down days and some up days since we announced the opening of our new Stock market Basics Paper-trading Portfolio on September 1st, when we started by buying stocks, ten in  number, that we can follow from that date on, observe their progress and make trading decisions based on some simple Stock Market 101 type guidelines that are easy to follow and easy to understand.

We also need to make frequent reference to the charts of the individual stocks, listed below. In future postings to this website we can illustrate and discuss their charts, a few at a time, and also list the “attributes” that we look for in order to confirm that they are appropriate to hold for future gain. Or, if the stocks are failing, as in the case of MPEL in the list below, the chart patterns will support our decision to exit a position and take a loss if necessary — and before it becomes too large a loss. Losses in trading stocks are inevitable, there are many unforseeable forces and events that can impact a stock or the stock market in general,  but remember the axiom: “Let profits run, cut short losses quickly”.

On the S&P 500 chart above, we show the 20 day and 50 day moving averages, a blue line for the 50-day, a green line for the 20-day. Both are important for most chart watchers who consider them as technical resistance or support levels when stocks trade in their vicinity.

We can see from the chart that the last 5 consecutive days are up-trending days, very promising, and we can easily identify a couple of price levels to break through to make that trend more convincing — those are: the August 31 high at about 1220 (we closed Friday last at 1216), and the 50-day moving average in blue at around 1230. And then there is the major target, if we can reach it, at around 1340, the previous high of August 22nd or thereabouts. So that gives you an idea of what I call the stock basics 1010 approach on what to look for. We also will soon have the next quarterly earnings report season to look forward to, meanwhile it is hoped that geopolitical events and the European financial uncertainties do not create additional havoc for us as they have done in the past, not to mention action at home in the U.S.

Here is our paper-trading portfolio list:

Portfolio Performance as of September 16 close