too often investors(?) buy on... a hunch, their gut feeling, my barber told me, etc,etc,etc - you still have to do your homework - if they are merging, in a market where they are virtually the only players, that tells you the income from that market can't support the two of them - can it support the debt of the combined company??? - maybe...., but not likely for at least a few more years

personally, I like stocks that pay me - sure, I miss out on the Googles, but I don't like roller coaster rides with my money - I don't want to have to look after my stocks every day(hour?) - I have a number of stocks that pay monthly, that I will add to if they fall to "buy" levels - many I've had for 10+yrs - I'll speculate into cement(CX), garbage(WMI), overseas(China, Brazil) - in an IRA or 401K, some reits are a good play with 6-9% dividends(IRC)

most mutual funds do not do better than an index fund - most hedge funds lose money - you want to gamble, go to Vegas - yoiu want to make money, you have to learn and do research - a newsletter can help narrow down the number of stocks to look at - You also have to decide how much time are you going to spend overseeing your portfolio - Myself, well, I'm a lazy person - I buy and hold and give my stocks 6-12 months to give me a return, longer if they are still giving me a good dividend - 80% of what I withdraw for retirement income is dividends - my IRA will definitely out live me as I normally can pickup the other 20% with my speculation stock trades - If I can do it, anybody can - just don't go chasing after all the other lemmings - find your own path - Good Luck!

__________________
Mark _______________________________
2001 X5 4.4i topaz blue/sand Sport, complete Dinan S2 , hitch, V1, tint, BSW Stage 1, Alpine INA-W910BT
___________
Life is not fair!
You can't protect people from their own stupidity!
Laughter makes life worth living