COMMENTARY -- This year, I resolve to...
Find the next Cisco/Microsoft/Oracle. I know it's out there, I just know it. There are undiscovered gems in the market. One of these penny stocks will pan out. Also, world peace will descend upon us, Bill Clinton will stop eyeing women and the Buffalo Bills will win Super Bowl XXXVI.
Greet the wireless future with open arms. This is making me so excited that I want to call someone on a cell phone right now -- except that I can't get a connection that lasts more than a couple of minutes inside my office.
Encourage people to get into stocks. Still beats bonds long-term. And it justifies my salary.
Never associate "new Web content company", "e-commerce marketplace" and "e-consultant" with "good stock". Carnage speaks for itself, even if a handful of "pure" Internet companies are likely to make it. Yet most of them won't, though that hasn't deterred everyone -- theglobe.com (Nasdaq: TGLO) gained more than 70 percent today after predicting break-even by year's end.
Never, ever, ever mention the phrase "New Economy" again. At least until the next Big Thing comes along.
Keep taking Wall Street analysis with a grain of salt. But as long as shareholders react to analysts -- check out today's Robby Stephens downgrades -- I will keep quoting them to fill up space.
Stop expecting anything from AT&T (NYSE: T). Ma Bell promises its breakup will improve life for all divisions. Maybe, but I'm not holding my breath. In any case, it shouldn't take a corporate split to get a cable upgrade for my block, which remains in the Cable Dark Ages five months after a friendly representative in the local AT&T office said my street should be due for work "real soon".
On the bright side, AT&T just borrowed $25 billion, which underscores the fact that some corporations are like Third World countries: so deeply in debt that banks can't afford to let the organization go under.
Stay away from easy ridicule. Anyone can take potshots at corporate mistakes, CEO fumbles and hype-ridden PR. Instead, I will travel the high road and only poke fun when a company's stock drops by more than 5 percent.
Listen to Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) message boards. There's so much to be learned from advice such as "Die Short Die" and "Eat me suckers". So much insight to be gained from people with handles like "the_party_is_over" and "voodoostockz".
Not write about Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) and Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL) for cheap hits. Bet most of you clicked through here just because this showed up on the AMD and AAPL news headlines on Yahoo!
Seriously, there's not much to be said about Apple from a Wall Street perspective at this point. It needs to grow earnings and revenue, and until that happens over a string of quarters, it's difficult to have confidence. As for AMD, flash memory notwithstanding, the company will stay hobbled by the PC slowdown for awhile. Good chips though.
Avoid alarmism. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 39 percent and the S&P 500 dropped 10 percent in 2000. They'll be back.
Avoid rash optimism. If a stock shoots up 20 percent in a day, it's probably too late to get in.
Be patient. This column may be called 2HRS2GO, but the market won't return right away. Indices are down today, and they will stay down until people feel the economy has rebounded.
Forget all of these resolutions. There's a promise I know I can keep.
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