should i buy yahoo (YHOO) stock?

First grasshopper, you would have to have already owned YHOO get in on the party.

YHOO closed on 1/31 at 19.18

YHOO opened on 2/1 at 28.68

high 29.83

low 27.34

So on 2/1 the trading range was 2.49

To many would be traders don't seem to take in opening price. The price doesn't open at the same price the stock closed. It can be higher or lower.

Now on to the deal.

Two major problems.

First it is more of a hostile takeover than an offer to buy.

Second the Justice Department is interested in looking at the deal.

MSFT is still under court order supervision.

I have some doubts the deal will make it.

As to NDN..... that is a big Hmmm.....

It is coming off a recent 52 week low. It has had a good five day run. On 1/10 one of the "gurus" was recommending selling the June calls at 7.50. Once again the guru was wrong.

Thursday 01/31/2008 4:15 PM ET - Dow Jones News

Ratings reiterations for Jan. 31 from Briefing.com:

Company Symbol Brokerage Firm Reiterations

99 Cents Only NDN Deutsche Securities Buy

It seems Deutsche Securities see it as a buy.

Do some research and you decide.

As a trader...I would take my profit. One of the biggest mistakes people make is listening to someone else. Be the person a Havard MBA, or ME . Make your own decisions

Don't buy YHOO, the risk is greater than the reward. YHOO and MSFT are both dogs and as one of the TV gurus said yesterday..... "If you mate to dogs you don't get a pony"

No, you wanted to do that 24 hours ago ;) It is somewhat luck, but I agree with the answer a little bit above, you can lose it all quick, too risky, even for people who know what they're doing, they have a ton of money and spread it out all over the place (diversify to reduce risk) to help protect themselves

Go with some kind of fund. It's going to be made up of a lot of stocks to help that diversification, and a lot of statistics show that many of the best investors can't beat the market or certain funds (there are funds that can just copy the entire market)

Also, be sure not to check every minute or day, you'll go nuts, do the fund thing, and be in it for the long-term, like real long-term, you'll be happy about it down the line.

I agree with many have already said on here about buying Yahoo right now. It is too risky. If you are investing with limited funds, try not to expose yourself to unnecessary risk.

First, you will be buying on speculation that the deal will go through, and unless you have pre-existing knowledge that it will, your putting yourself at high risk. Should Yahoo refuse the deal, you will have a huge loss.

Second, stocks that gap like how we all saw on Yahoo, tend to pull back and fill in the gap. Take a look at a candlestick chart, with stocks that have had a gap, and you will notice that more often than not, the stock pulls back.

Why? The reason is simple. People who were in Yaho prior to the gap to the up-side made a big profit. And it is a safe bet that many of those investors are not willing to take the risk of losing that profit. As a result, they will cash out and lock in their gains.

This puts pressure on Yahoo stock, keeping prices at the same level or pushing it lower. (Still with me?)

Ok, now many of the people who got in at $30 ish will start to second guess themselves and start selling as well, further putting more selling pressure on the stock, driving down prices, which leads to filling the gap on the chart (price gap).

So for now, stay out of it. If the deal goes through and Yahoo takes off, its ok, dont worry. There are many other opportunities out there for you to make money on.

I dont agree however, with the buying of mutual funds. I suggest learning as much as you can about investing and become independent. Mutual funds carry many risks, as well as high fees. Not to mention that many of the Mutual Funds out there dont even grow at the same pace as the market.

An IRA account is something I suggest you invest in though. However, be sure to find out if a Traditional IRA or a Roth IRA is better for you. Each has their benefits.

As for your 99cent store. I only took a fast glance at it, but the technicals still are showing positive signs. However, judging by the series of gains, that store has had, it may pull back a little before continuing up. If you can stomach that, then hold onto it for a bit longer and re-adjust your stop-loss price/percentage.

However please keep in mind that the market is still volatile, so if you hold on to it, it is a risk you are going to have to accept.

I hope this answered your questions.

Christian Nago

CEO & Chief Investment Officer

www.intrepidtradings.com

Do NOT buy YHOO. The opportunity is over! If the deal goes through you will get a MSFT share, which means you will break even. (MSFT went down after the announcement.) If the deal falls through, YHOO will drop rapidly and you will loose money. There is a "possibility" that MSFT will increase their offer. But don't gamble on it.

NDN I would set a trailing stop and let it ride. A tight stop (1% to 2%) will protect most of your gains, but you will probably end up selling due to the volatility. A loose stop (5% to 7%) will over reasonable protection and allow you to stay in if it continues going up.

The operative point to your question was that you knew nothing about the" stock market". That signifies that you are safetly within the parameters of 99% of public holders of securities, including the likes of yours truly with almost 40 years "experience".

The market is simple and intuitive, subject only to the quirkiness and vacillation of "traders", "insiders", "spammers", "pumpand dumpers" all feeding the public false and misleading information to sway the appearance of simplicity and intuitiveness into a manner they can predict, control and profit from.

Lesson 1. People who trade in-out of stocks lose money. The transaction costs involved in trading is just too great. Plan to Buy & Hold for a reasonable time fame.

Lesson 2. Before deeply investing money, invest your time in reading investment books. My favorite current source is "Motley" They are independent advisors with practical, logical, readable and disinterested counsel. There are also a few standard books you can get through BARNES & N or local retailers that provide even more basic information. Worth the time to read.

Lesson 3. Your 99 Cents purchase seems a solid and logical purchase in our present economic conditions. Real wages have been flat or falling...Jobs are being lost or reduced...People need most ernestly to stretch income. This store should enjoy good profits for at least the next year or two. Profits drive stock price increases

Lesson 4. Your problem with your proposed Yahoo puchase has at least two flaws. The biggest is you cannot afford it without giving up on your prior stock selection that does not require replacement. Otherwise, this investment looks good with the following caveats:

A- The Securities and Exchange Commission could vex this deal and cause the deal to fall apart and you might suddenly find yourself without any profits upon learning this at some inconvenient time.

B- The timing of this MS offer was not coincidentally timed to the YAHOO stock hitting all time lows on reports of losing market share, reduced profit estimates and success by bigger more solvent competitors. (IT WAS BEGINNING TO GO DOWNHILL!)

C- Will MS have the ability to enhance the basic product and successfully increase its income based upon the Yahoo product line.

This is key. MS has history of buying good products and remarketing them under there own logo. Bless BILL GATES but MS, itself, hasn't developed any great new technology for the past 15 years. They are best at buying, borrowing or stealing for improvement. YAHOO is unlikely to be developing any "must have" changes itself so you might want to ask what is being bought and sold.

Market share and market size are the benefits derived from this business combination, including savings from reducing the number of duplicative employees. These "Silicone Valley" babies, at least until they replace their jobs, will be shopping at 99 Cent stores to stretch their Unemployment dollars.

IMHO, this merger has good possibillities in an enlarging market where it is already the major leader to turn long term profits. This is a buy and hold type of investment window that you should plan on holding until you reach middle age.

Given limited investment income, long term financial prospective and innate stock market curiosity to see if you can out pick the experts you are most likely to buy stock impulsively...sell rising stock too quickly to enjoy the full benefit of your prior decisions and hand over your profits to your stock broker and trading company. We all do this which explains the incredible Wall Street value in public trading firms.

= Buy Quality (Usually NYSE)

Hold long term (Years)

Diversify (Market Sectors)

usually produces the best long term (My God, I am now 50!) results.

The stock game is a gamble. For the most part they will go up. I put my money in a 401k, that has lost money this year. To buy yahoo now, to will take time to make money on it. Do some more checking on low dollars stocks that will climb. The more shares you have the less it has to go up to make good money.

cash out.

You have 0 knowledge of the market, invest in a mutual fund, earn your 5-15% and stick with that.

Start yourself a Roth IRA and throw money at it every so often, keep your IRA money in mutual funds as well.

Day trading is for people who end up jumping off roofs.

To microsoft yahoo is the bait to google - good luck!

Yes,buy it now before too late