is it time to buy?

Markets around the world have seen good gains over the past weeks specially in Asia. When the numbers are in the green, there is always a lot of excitement generated. So with everyone wondering if its time to buy, i can't help but wonder the same thing myself.

I don't think its really the time to be buying quite yet. I would recommend that we still be cautious. I'll maintain my current strategy of small buys stretched over a long period.

Too much excitement
It's been a while since we've seen good numbers and I think this might cause the markets to get ahead of themselves. So far, the PSEi remains very responsive to the U.S. indeces so I remain attentive to what's happening over there. While the so called "green shoots" are emerging from the devastated American Economy, I don't think all the bumps are already behind.

Credit Card fallout
One thing I'm very concerned with is the Credit Card fallout that is hanging over the American Economy like the sword of Damocles. Even without very detailed specifics, we know that the American consumer uses credit cards for a very large part of their purchases. When a job is cut, credit isn't. So what happens when the droves of jobless start defaulting. We'll again see some ugly figures and have to digest them. It may not be such a big deal from a macro economic point of view, but something like that can really rattle the markets. It's coming and I would like to wait for that to pass before I make some big buys.

Waiting game is coming to an end
Over the past months, I've read and read and read about whether its a good time to buy. Most articles say the same thing. There is tremendous opportunity now. Timing and selection is the key. That kind of vague advice isn't really very helpful when it comes right down to making specific purchases but considering that around November 2007, the chorus of the blogosphere was sell, sell, sell and that the experts were saying similar things makes me feel good even about such vague advice. I sense that the time for waiting is coming to an end. The window of this "tremendous opportunity" will soon close.