I'm in a Virtual Stock Exchange Contest What Should I Do?

I'm in A.P. Economics and we are having a stock market contest. I really want to kick everyone's butt but the market is so shaky right now. I definitely need to buy stocks with short run gain in mind. Tell me what you think of my current portfolio and where would you put your money. (money that we don't spend has a 2% interest rate %26amp; we start w/ $100,000)





Citigroup Inc. (C)


Cold Spring Cap Inc. (CDS)


Flextronics Intl Ltd (FLEX)


Manpower Inc. (MAN)


E Trade Financial Corp (ETFC)


Xinyuan Real Estate Co L (XIN)


Bank Of America Corporation (BAC)


Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO)


Wells Fargo %26amp; Company (WFC)


China Nat Gas Inc (CHNG)


Guaranty Finl Group Inc (GFG)


Jmp Group Inc (JMP)


Riskmetrics Group Inc (RMG)


Gabelli Global Multimedia Trust Inc. (GGT)


Harvest Energy Tr (HTE)


Ameron International Corporation (AMN)


Alpha Natural Resources Inc (ANR)


Fording Cdn Coal Tr (FDG)


Patni Computer Sys (PTI)


PerkinElmer Inc (PKI)


Unisys Corporation (UIS)


Stillwater Mining Co. (SWC)


Security Capital Assurance (SCA)

I'm in a Virtual Stock Exchange Contest What Should I Do?
In general terms you're looking for the stocks with the highest volatility you can find. There are screens available through Yahoo to help identify them. Where you have a choice between a large cap and small cap, chose the large cap.





Looking at the names you listed - start by knocking out the banks. You won't get the return you need quickly. Knock out Yahoo. Following the MSFT offer, the price will be stable for months. Look for more emerging market stocks. Countries like India and Brazil will be especially volatile for the next few weeks. Petrobras and Wipro are two names too consider. Throw in some small oil drillers and commodity plays. There are plenty in the US, but Australian and South African plays will be even more volatile.





Good luck.
Reply:You need to do all your investing based on the long term – five, 10 and twenty year track records.