Volatility; QTM; Quantum; PRIS

On September 9, 2011, I wrote:  "For now, my view seems to hold:  the markets will be hit by repeated and volatile shocks up and down as the very real bad news is countered by the not so real attempts by policy makers to prop them up."  Seems I'm ok on that prediction since then.  One of my favorites, Quantum, is again riding the elevator up and down.  Unless the company is worthless though, it's current price seems awfully low.  I also picked up PRIS -- Spanish multimedia conglomerate at around $4 per ADR (representing 4 ordinary shares).  This stock has traded as high as $13 per share in the last year.  Somehow, I don't think it's worth that much less now but is, instead, a victim of the flight from Europe (which is, incidentally, not unwarranted).  Plus, it has a low stock price -- an absolute requirement for me these days.

Riding the Quantum (QTM) Train -- Again

By way of confession, I've indulged my bad habit of short-term trading again.  One of my favorite low price stocks, Quantum, dropped significantly during the recent market dips.  I bought at $1.85 on Aug. 22 and sold out yesterday at $1.97.  My purchase was based on several principles.  First, Quantum is volatile.  While this volatility could work negatively, it could also result in a quick bump up.  After the market dips, my instinct was that there would be a bump up.  Second, Quantum is worth more than $1.85 and was beaten down by the market crashes.  The corollary to this is that Quantumm, while Quantum might sink further in the near term, it was a safe investment long-term.  Third, Quantum is an acquisition candidate, giving me another way to win.  Fourth, I believe that for some time we will be looking at repeated and significant market dips and upward surges.  Why?  There is a lot of bad news that will keep hitting markets because the world economies are not in good shape.  Nevertheless, there are a lot of very powerful, wealthy entities both here and abroad that are invested in continuing to trade whatever economic conditions and these entities will produce surges.  There are also governmental forces which have a strong interest in keeping markets rising or at least stable.  These competing forces will continue to do battle for some time, since neither promises to run out of steam for the foreseeable future.  Did any of the aforementioned factors enter into my modest win on QTM?  1, 2, and 3, in my opinion.