Best sector to invest in for a rocky economy?

Question

I'm concerned with the state of the housing market and its early signs of a pull-back which could excellerate, having a devistating effect on the economy, forcing many people to cash in on their stocks, just to hold onto their homes, which they have finacially overextended themselves on and have not accounted for any future bumps in the road/increased expenses.

Answer 1

Invest in consumer goods - things you even buy yourself - the stuff that very little of the world's tragedies or occurances would be likely to effect. Things like candy - Nestle's, Hershey, etc. Things like beer and soda pop - Budweiser, Pepsi, Coke, etc. Basic foods like canned goods or staples - Starkist, Del Monte, etc. Things that there will nearly always be a market for. Should the market fall on those basics, then the world would be such a sorry place that there wouldn't be any point to investing, anyway.

Answer 2

Rocky is right. There is a lot of talk about a deep recession for the reasons you stated and much more.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?guid=%7BE18E95AF-DBFF-4EE4-ACF7-530A3CD714D3%7D
(be sure to click on the first link "Read more" also)

traditionally, utilities and consumer goods are the things to invest in during bad times, but CASH is very valuable becuause as the market starts going down, you start buying. Since no one can know when the market is at the bottom, you start accumulating stocks at some point on the way down,

here's how I do it.

now: put a 20% of your cash in a 6month CD and 20% in a 3month CD.
next month put 20% in a 3 month CD
third month put 20% in a 3 month CD

the 4th month(and every month thereafter) 20% becomes available. keep rolling it back into the same term CD until you think it's time to start investing. this way you stagger your investments buying towards the bottom of the down market

diversify your investments as always.

Good Luck

Answer 3

It sounds like your risk tolerance is somewhat low. The economy will continue to be volatile so why not put a lot of your liquid assets into short-term CDs? CDs are paying 5%+ which sure beats losing 10 or 20% the week after you buy some stock. Let your money sit in CDs until Bush is gone and the global situation begins to stabilize a little.

I've also been interested in prosper.com to diversify and get some decent returns. It's a new thing, but has a lot of promise.

Answer 4

Your best bet lies in investing in U.S. Companies that export their goods/services, or U.S. Companies that already operate overseas factories, offices in China, India etc.While the U.S. economy slows down, the rest of the world especially Asia, will be growing. They need to import many things which the U.S. is competitive in, from soya beans to Boeing 747's to locomotives, to construction skills in infrastructure projects to the financial services expertise of our Investment banks. A cheaper U.S. dollar against the Yen, Euro and Yuan also helps.

Answer 5

pork bellies is always a good investment..in spite of the last G summit.. people have to eat and the U.S. is very good in raising meat food stuffs.

also look into alternative fuel sources (there is a real opportunity now while it is about at the floor) please do your research a friend lost quite a bit on a fraudulent company (inflated stocks)

weapons (while not one of my investments..ethics and moral reasons) will continue to do quite well for the obvious reasons globally

Answer 6

In the rocky economy
consumer staple/non-cyclicle( like food,all kinds of household stuff that you can not live without
healthcare( you still go to doctor no matter economy good or bad)

Answer 7

Medical equipment. The baby boomers are going to need parts.

Do your homework.

Answer 8

rocks