Will we see year-end tax selling this year? That's a question that will be answered in just under two weeks, as December comes to a close and 2008 is almost history. What is year-end tax selling anyway? Investors holding beaten down or depressed stocks will usually sell them at year end to take the tax loss. This can be a good strategy if the investor has capital gains in other securities or investments. This year the market has been very unkind to investors. Stocks that are hovering near their lows are usually the ones that are pushed down further during this period. However studies have been shown that stocks trading near their lows in December often outperform the market going into the first several weeks of the new year. Many professional traders often play this tax selling game. The Long term investor only needs to sell if he finds a better deal elsewhere or if he has profits to match against the losses.
STOCKMANMARC
Oh yes!
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten about this phenom tax strategy! But unfornutely, I have little stock positions to sell out of.
I guess all I can do is to take advantage of the other side of the equation and buy some value in January!! make sense?