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- No new trades.
Strategy Lab is MSN Money's stock-picking challenge. To learn more about the game -- and the contenders -- click here.
A couple of months ago, I was riding a bunch of unloved losers to first place in the latest round of Strategy Lab. Then, the stock market's tone switched dramatically as the credit crunch and mortgage mess erupted into one very big crisis. Suddenly, investors had about as much appetite for risk as someone suffering from anorexia has for a triple cheeseburger. The result: My stocks took a beating, and I finished at the bottom of the pack.
Usually, when the market turns south, stocks that have been weak compared with the broader market get much weaker. This year's downturn proved no different. I was caught by surprise by the market's downturn and the beating my positions took; I'd gone after stocks of companies with attractive valuations and growth.
In retrospect, I underestimated the ripple effect from the meltdown in financial stocks, and it showed. Investors who ride out the current downturn will turn out OK, but it was pain that I should have and could have avoided with a more cautious approach. I knew that conditions were unsettled. But as much as Strategy Lab is an educational platform, it is also a contest. To win you have to be in. Well, at least that's true during up trends.
Perhaps to their chagrin right about now, the good folks at MSN Money have invited me back for the next round. I will redouble my research efforts, use a little more patience and find a bunch of dogs with some bite. The good news for me is there are lots more stocks to pick from right now.
Like Rocky Balboa after his first bout with Clubber Lang (the movie character played by Mr. T), I'm a little down. But I'm not out. Hopefully, we can all work together, and I can compete more effectively for the top spot in the round.
With thanks to all of you for keeping Strategy Lab going and thanks to the MSN Money staff, which works very hard behind the scenes to make this a unique educational tool for active investors.
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