The Markets' First Five Days of 2005

The markets will open up tomorrow for the first time since 2004. The holiday parties will be over and it will be time for Wall Street to focus on profit making for 2005. Many investors will be watching the first five days of trading in 2005 as an indication of things to come in the new year. The trading will probably be relatively light, considering most large investment institutions such as mutal funds positioned themselves for the first part of 2005 during the last month of 2004. The big cap stock earnings updates start to trickle in during the last part of January, which will certainly boost trading volume among the big cap stocks.

The average investor should follow a prudent course of action during these first days of trading in 2005. There is no need to rush to judgement and alter your market position drastically, unless it was planned during the last weeks of 2004 for tax purposes. If you are positioned for the long-term growth of the stock market you will be fine. For those of you trying to reap short-term profits it will serve you well to keep abreast of news and reports coming from Wall Street that may affect your investments.

In short...be wise in your decisions during this first week of trading in 2005.

The following are links to articles related to the first week of trading:

CnnFn- First Week 2005

CBS Market Watch - First Week 2005

CBS Market Watch- Stocks to Watch