Posted by For the month of February, the DOW lost 831 points. The DOW is down over 8% year to date. My investments decreased by 1.5% during the month. Interest and dividend income was $563 for the month. I usually don’t look at my investments when the market is extremely volatile like it has been lately. There is too much of a temptation to sell when you see how much money you are losing on an investment. Despite this, I sold USB, PLTR, and INTC. I bought COHU, FAF, and WBA. I also added more YYY and FSDIX to my non-IRA account. I gave up on Palantir. After earnings, the stock sold off by 15% and I decided it was time to put my money elsewhere.
The Russia’s war in Ukraine is dragging the stock market down. The only investments that are doing well are gold, oil, and defense stocks. Until the situation stabilizes the markets are going to continue to go down. Each news report on the war is worse than the last. There is a whole generation that has never experienced anything like this. The sanctions placed on Russia will only hurt the Russian people. It will have little effect on those who are in power. More likely it will just make them more determined to escalate the conflict. I think there is a lot we don’t understand about the politics in that region. The news reports coming out of there are crazy. I saw one headline that asked, “How much damage can a nuke do?”. Let’s just say, you don’t want to find out!