Activision Blizzard Article (Week 10)

This article describes how many of the musical games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero have lost their poplarity this year. With Rock Band IV being a game created by Activison Blizzard, this is a disconcerting issue. This decline in sales is evident in the fact that Guitar Hero III sold $1.4 billion, while guitar hero IV only grossed $500,000. Activision still has hope in devoted fans as well as various extras being created for future sequels.

Jobless Claims Fall

Recently the number reported number of unemployed Americans dropped. This drop came as a surprise to many economists. The majority of wall street economists thought that they would see an increase in jobless Americans. If this trend continues, we will see our economy start to reaelly turn around. People will have more money to put back into the economy and the hard times will be behind us.

Portfolio (Week 10)

During this week our portfolio took an interesting turn. We decided to short sell in Toyota Motors. We decided to do this because Toyota Motors seemed to be doing quite badly in the stock market. We lost $220.39 on this short sell, thus making this decision seem like a bad one. Overall though, we had a net gain of $311.91, resulting in a portfolio value of $77,369.97.

What I've Learned

I have learned many things because of the stock market game, but I mostly learned from the numerous blog posts that my group and created. Our group always exchanged jobs at who would do which requirement, but I really like doing the portfolio. The most important thing i learned from the stock market game was to research companies before investing in them. I also learned that it is better to invest long-term instead of short-term because then you have a better opportunity to gain more profit from your investment. We researched all of the companies we invested in, but it didn't seem to completely work. If I were to change anything, I woudn't have invested in Activision Blizzard or Hasboro. Both of these companies made us lose money even though we believed that they would create at least some profit. I would still keep our Verizon stock because it was very profitable to our portfolio. In real life, however, I would not invest in this way at all. Instead, I would invest in more low-risk companies in order to protect myself from heavy losses. Overall, this game has taught me how to play the market to my advantage by using research and common sense to make educated and sensible investment decisions.

Things I Have Learned in the Stock Market Game

This game taught me that the stock market isn't something to do unless you understand what you're doing, and even what can happen. It is a very tricky bussiness to get into. Even some of the experts get it wrong sometimes. I've learned that you can't expect to make money right away. Investing i the stock market is a process that takes a lot of time. I learned that you should research the companies and also the competitors before investing. Anticipating the launch of a new product would be something to look for, and a product that a competitor puts out to compete with your company. Checking on the overall economy is a smart idea that i learned too. Seeing wheather people are buying, selling, or if the NASDAQ has dropped are things you constantly should pay attention to if you're really going to get involved in the stock market. I'm glad i got to learn all of these different things about the stock market through this game, it really gave me a little experience of what the real thing is like.

What I've Learn About The Stock Market Game

All together, I had a real interesting group for our game. And luckily, we chose some real good short-term stocks. The most knowledgeable thing that I learned from the Stock Market Game was that even though the objective was based on short sales of stocks, in reality short-term is not the way to go. Long-term stocks are less riskier and offer way more financial potential (profit). For long term, I would have keep my eggs all in one basket because it gives the stock more time to bounce back from any loss. All together, unlike some groups I would not have changed the stocks our group invested in, they actually did fairly well. However, we should not have short sold Toyota Motors, by doing this it brought us down. This simple mistake of selling can also give a negative affect when it comes to stocks. It taught me a valuable lesson, that purchasing stocks is not only a risk, but selling can often be just as equal of a risk. Overall, this game has taught me key concepts of the stock market and how it works, that will help me someday when it comes to the real-life version of my own Stock Market Game.

Review of the market (Week 10)

The NASDAQ fell during the week period, starting out at $2212.10 and dropping to a low point of $2180.05. Although the overall trend was downward, the last day it seen a jump to $2211.69. Overall the Dow Jones had a downside week as well.  It started out the week at $10501.48 and exponentially continued to fall. The worst day coming on the 16th, where it dropped off to $10308.26. By the end the Dow Jones reached $10328.89, a great difference from the beginning of the week. At last, the S&P 500 had a trend very similar to the NASDAQ and Dow Jones, a downfall. It started off at $1114.11 and ended at $1102.47. 

Review of the Economy (Week 9)

Overall, the economy is not doing too well. The housing crach is still taking it toll on the market, and holiday sales have been continuously suffering. The only silver lining is that gas prices have dropped to an eight week low. Hopefully steady delcine is only temporary and we'll pull out of it soon enough to avoid more damage.

Review of the Market (Week 9)

The S&P started the week on December 7th with a price of $1,103.96 and ended on the 11th with1,103.25, a loss of 71 cents over the week period. The Dow Jones started with $10,403.41 and ended the week with $10,390.11, a grand total loss of $13.30. While the Nasdaq seen a loss as well, starting the week with $2,200.96 and ending with $2,189.61. This week was an overall bad week for the market.

Is Tiger becoming endangered?

Recently Gillette has cut back on its ties with Tiger Woods. Although they have said they are not officially done with the golf star, they are limiting the connections they have with him. The reasons they say are because of golf being on an off season. They wasn to focus more on athletes in the current season, like football. The recent Tiger Woods scandal could effect many companies and products. Eventhough they say it has nothing to do with the scandal, I think everyone knows the truth. These companies are going to have to find a new main sponsor for their products. Doing that may be difficult because of the popularity Tiger Woods had.

Review of the Economy (Week 8)

A cautiously optimistic Bernanke said he expects "modest" economic growth next year. That should help push down the nation's unemployment rate — now at 10% — "but at a pace slower than we would like," he acknowledged. Under one Fed forecast released last month, the jobless rate would remain stubbornly high next year — ranging from 9.3 to 9.7%. The Fed has warned that it could take five or six years for the job market to return to normal. To nurture the recovery, the Fed has kept rates at record low near zero for a year. The central bank is widely expected to leave rates at those super-low levels at its meeting on Dec. 15-16. By doing so, the Fed hopes to entice people and businesses to boost spending, which would aid the recovery (USATODAY.COM). As the workforce is gradually predicted to strengthen, the economy is beginning to see a bright future. Last weeks overall status of the economy was a steadily increase, giving stock-holders a sigh of relief.

Review of the Market

Last week The Dow Jones started at 10,344.8398. Although it raised for one day, it went back down for 2 straight days, picking up a little on the 3rd. It ended with a slight increase. The ending point was 10,388.9004.
The NASDAQ saw an increase for the first couple days. And although it did not increase throught the whole week, it did overall see a rise. It started at 2,114.6001 and ended at 2,194.3501.
The S&P 500 did see a rise, but it did go down from what the week high was. On Nov. 31st it was at 1,095.63 and saw an increase for a day. After the increase it stayed the same for the whole day, then dropping down. By the end of the week it was at 1,105.98.
The overall market saw an increase for the week of Nov. 31-Dec. 4. Hopefully we will see this for future weeks.

Portfolio (Week 8)

Overall, our portfolio is looking good this week. We have a cash balance of $93,358.58. We did not lose any money, but instead gained $314.47 in interest and dividends. While we may have $136.39 in commission fees, we still have a .47% return rate.

Verizon Attacks Competitors

Recently Verizon has been running adds showing the weaknesses of their competitors. Most notably is the commercial about AT&T. They point out how they have the most cell phone area, and other companies have more dropped calls. Running these commercials should prove to be very beneficial for Verizon, it is making them more popular and seem superior.

Review of the Market (Week 7)

Overall, the markets did not do well this week. The Dow Jones started at 10450.95 and it ended the week with a negative outcome of 10309.92. It was at its highest point on the 25th with a value of 10464.40, and at its lowest on the 27th with a value of 10309.92. The S&P 500 also suffered a loss this week. It started the week with a market value of 1106.24 and ended with a value of 1087.27. NASDAQ joined the downward trend that occured this week with a ending value of 2176.01 even though they started 2138.44. Hopefully this downward trend will abate over a period of time because we all need to rise out of this recession.