I dont know, lots of stocks are very cheap, but I am hoping things will get cheaper.

I'd have to say no. Lots of people still in the denial stage and i get the feeling and i dont think i am alone that things are going to get really bad really quickly; we havent had 1 of those days where everyone is hanging round watching unfolding events yet and i bet there will be.

Its a bit like the 'phoney war' at the beginning of World war 2, and then all hell broke loose.

For the long term this might be a good buying opportunity - there are loads of "cheap" quality shares like BA, M&S, Banks. They could get cheaper though!

I'm worried this might be a "dead cat bounce". I expect the Summer could be nervous, and 2009-10 could be hair raising.

Or it could all go away - apart from finance, many businesses (like my own) are currently doing very well indeed.

I'm quite pleased though, my SIPP is up nearly 5% since November, and there are some big dividends to come. This is a good time to be actively managing stocks rather than using trackers.

The big money says the real crash won't come until the autumn - late summer at the earliest. That's when the really bad Q3 earnings results will hit the market, US mortgage defaults/foreclosures will approach a peak and IBs will finally be forced to give up playing hide the sausage and come clean/merge/go broke.

There will probably be a summer rally between now and then though, and a lot of people will get sucked back in before being thoroughly fleeced. It always happens that way in a recession. The market always falls 50% from peak to trough, so I'd wait to see the Dow well into four figures and the S&P into three before you call a bottom.

The way I see it, the bottom won't be in for a long time yet. The contagion is spreading from the banking system to the housing market and retailers. As sentiment grows increasingly negative in these areas and the economy takes a dive, consumers will have less money to spend and both homeowners and businesses will default on bad loans. Banks will have to write off even more bad debts, lending criteria will be further tightened. With credit less easily available, and that which is available being so at expensive rates, more homeowners and retailers will bust, banks will have to write off even more bad debts, further tighten lending criteria... I think we'll see credit tightening and a wilting economy suck each other into a downwards spiral. Seeing as homeowners and retailers in the UK are only just starting to feel the pain, I think it'll be quite a while before we reach the bottom.