As mentioned in yesterday's posting, we held a Roundtable discussion last night here at Forbes Inc. Headquarters. The timing couldn't have been better. We began our discussion just half an hour after the markets closed. The Dow sold off 200 points at least in part due to Ben Bernanke's comments about inflation and a slowing economy.
Barbara Marcin wasn't too concerned about an economic slowdown. However, she favors large-cap dividend payers, which are typically the kinds of stocks that hold up best in a bear market. Chuck Brunie was very concerned about central bankers around the world mopping up liquidity, which could be bad news for investors. Liz Ann Sonders turned bearish a couple of months ago. She believes there is a good chance we could see a fairly strong market sell-off. Mike Holland said a sell-off wouldn't surprise him. However, he was more sanguine about the economy. While he believes economic growth will slow, he doesn't foresee a recession. Although some participants were short-term bearish on stocks, all were long-term bullish. They believe a strong market sell-off will be a good buying opportunity. Despite yesterday's 200-point drop in the Dow, everyone agreed the sell-off hasn't yet occurred.
We will transcribe and edit the comments for clarity. Then we will make them available to all subscribers to the Forbes Growth Investor and Special Situation Survey investment newsletters. This process will take a few weeks, so please bear with us.
