is now a good time to buy shares?

[Niall Quinn]

Yes this is my own opinion, but I cant see the business sense in it !

Simple really - you've got wealth generation on your side!
The average 100 stake put on the horses returns 75 (*wild guess #1) to the punter in a given year.
The average 100 investment on the stock market returns 105 (*wild guess #2) to the investor in a given year.

[lynchbhoy]

Yes this is my own opinion, but I cant see the business sense in it !

Simple really - you've got wealth generation on your side!
The average 100 stake put on the horses returns 75 (*wild guess #1) to the punter in a given year.
The average 100 investment on the stock market returns 105 (*wild guess #2) to the investor in a given year.

yes, but its too much of a gamble, which is never the rationale of a business person, only a gambler

[muppet]

Well the brilliant celebrity economists here talked hard for 4 years to persuade us into an Irish property market crash and the Irish stock market crashed far worse.

If the useless twats advised me to play hurling I'd start knitting.

[Silky]

The stock markets are falling by around 6-7% all around the world. If USA get a cold Europe goes down with the flu. It ain't looking good. I wouldn't buy shares until things settle down a bit.

[stephenite]

If you had a decent amount of cash put aside that you could afford to invest for a couple of years (ie) not see any returns on it for a while then there has never been a better time to buy shares.

[hectorsheroes]

Its not necessarily a bad time to buy. I live in the North and have an ISA. I had one about 4-5 years ago which dropped by way over a grand, I sat tight and two years later without paying any money in the original investment was up £2k. The big thing is to sit tight, my current one is down about £300 in the last week but it is buying shares cheaper so as logic dictates will have more of them should the price go up. And the way shares and markets work they will go up at some stage. There is an election on in the US later in the year and this always pushes up prices despite the current doom and gloom and as someone said when the US markets get a cold Europe has a flu. Just sit tight and ride out the storm and hopefully it will be ok

[Declan]

http://highprobability.blogspot.com/2008/01/stock-market-ruined-my-life.html

No sympathy whatsoever for this guy. A respectable form of gambling or educated risk taking as my nere do well trader friends call it.

[Drumanee 1]

if you want to invest the best way to go would be with asia currency.

[supersarsfields]

I believe Liverpool FC have a few shares they'd sell you at a reduced rate at the minute.

[Donagh]

Major panic on the world markets now. The Fed has cut interest rates by 3/4 but still no good - the NAZDAQ in down over 4% since trading restarted.

http://ticker.nasdaq.com/tkr/TickerFrame.asp

[clarshack]

what's the chances of uk interest rates coming down by 1/2 percent in feb now?

[Donagh]

what's the chances of uk interest rates coming down by 1/2 percent in feb now?

They released a statement earlier along with the ECB to say they wouldn't be following the Fed in the short term

[nifan]

Anyone wanting to see if they can beat the market can use a site like bullbearings.co.uk to try and see how they get on.

With the current fluctuations some people will be making a mint, others losing the shirt of their back.
Either way the trading volumes are huge today so plenty doing business.

[muppet]

glad i took you advice muppett could get them shares today for €3.90 would have made a big loss

Well Deel Rover what price today?

The market is in such disarray that all sane methods of calculating the value of a business have gone out the window. Some debt-free Irish companies now have a market cap much lower than their free cash reserves!

Towards the end of the property boom the expression 'silly money' was commonly heard to describe prices.

I am beginning to believe stocks are now at silly prices by any logical analysis.

The question is though in a credit crunch do you part with your cash? 

[Billys Boots]

Thursday, July 3, 2008, Irish Times

Developer believed to have lost €20m on Aer Lingus shares

LEADING DEVELOPER Liam Carroll is believed to have sold more than 31 million shares in Aer Lingus yesterday at an estimated loss of about €20 million.

It is understood Mr Carroll sold the Aer Lingus shares at €1.15 apiece, having accumulated his holding earlier this year at prices close to €2 a share.

The share deal, described by many stockbrokers yesterday as a "fire sale", would have yielded Mr Carroll €40.25 million. The shares were sold by Goodbody Stockbrokers.

When contacted by The Irish Times about the transaction, Mr Carroll said: "I never comment to newspapers."

As a result of the global credit crunch, a significant number of property developers in Ireland have been placed under pressure recently by banks to cash in assets and reduce their debts.

It is not known whether this might have prompted Mr Carroll's decision to sell his Aer Lingus shareholding at a loss.

Mr Carroll is one of Ireland's wealthiest developers. His Dublin-based company Zelderbridge has more than 60 subsidiaries.

As the airline does not pay a dividend, Mr Carroll was reported to have invested in Aer Lingus at the turn of the year as a play on the possible redevelopment of its headquarters at Dublin airport.

Some of Mr Carroll's Aer Lingus shares were yesterday snapped up by Ryanair. In a statement issued last night, the Michael O'Leary-led airline said it had acquired an additional 3.5 million shares in Aer Lingus yesterday to take its stake to 29.82 per cent.

Aer Lingus's share price fell by 16 per cent in Dublin yesterday to a record low of €1.15.

Mr Carroll is reported to have spent about €400 million in the past couple of years buying shares in Irish-listed companies. He owns more than 29 per cent of food group Greencore and ferry operator Irish Continental Group.

He also has a stake of just under 10 per cent in property group McInerney, and a holding of 4-5 per cent in insurer FBD.

Rumours circulated yesterday that Mr Carroll had also sold some stock in these companies, but this could not be confirmed.

Greencore's shares declined yesterday by more than 7 per cent, while McInerney was down by 26.5 per cent, and FBD and ICG were both down 4.4 per cent.

Mr Carroll has tended to acquire shares in Irish public companies through contracts for difference (CFDs), which do not require him to declare his interests.