August 1st 2008 - It's time to bag an elephant.

Today, I'm thinking about what I must do with my money. I've let my money become lazy. It has been sitting in the eTrade account collecting dust and a meagre interest rate for the past year. Things must change. I need to treat investment with greater seriousness. Like an athlete, I must train and I must compete. It's not wise to continue to sit along the sidelines.

It's time to bag an elephant.
4:15 pm : The stock market kicked off the month of August with a modest decline after a rise in crude oil prices offset a modestly better-than-expected employment report.

With regard to this session's economic data, the government's jobs report for July came in close to expectations, but a smaller-than-expected drop in payrolls helped limit the selling interest this session. Specifically, nonfarm payrolls fell by 51,000 which was better than the expected decline of 75,000. Payrolls are declining at about a 0.5%, which is generally associated with real GDP growth of 1.5% to 2% -- consistent with second quarter data and projections for the third quarter. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose to 5.7% from 5.5%.

The ISM Index, a national manufacturing survey, posted a decent reading in July given the current economic conditions. The index was roughly unchanged at 50.0, which represents flat manufacturing growth.

Crude oil prices continued the recent trend of volatile swings. Prices climbed as much as 3.6% on reports that Israel's prime minister said that Iran is close to a major breakthrough in its nuclear weapons program. Prices eased off their highs, however, to settle with a 0.8% gain at $125.09. The stock market's worst level of the session, a loss of 1.0%, corresponded with the session high for oil prices.

Nonetheless, forest products have been one of the session's best performing industry groups. In turn, forestry and timber outfit Weyerhaeuser (WY 55.95, +2.49) is trading higher. The stock hit a 52-week low in mid-June and has since rallied more than 20%.

The Dow declined 51 pts to end at 11326. Volume was 704 million (with a huge surge in volume ~ 30 million within the last 5 minutes pushing the index down).

Noteworthy individual sectors performances:
Dow Jones Basic Resources Index: -4%
Dow Jones Banks: +1.5%

What are the big sharks planning this time? Are they trying to create an impression of "the markets aren't really so bad,"lure us into chasing stocks at high prices, then dumping them on us. I would like to join them on the short ride up, but to time the move seems rather difficult. When will this thing explode? At least I don't think it will be so soon. I think it's time to take some beaten down sectors home. Anything related to oil will slip.

It may be time to watch the DJUFI and DJBNK take in some Leh, Fnm, Fre.