Red Flags will alert us to avoid stocks that are very likely to be in trouble. By knowing what are the red flags, we can reduce the chances of losing money. Doing research before trading will help us to find out what the red flags are. That will save us from making losses from investing. The most serious red flag for me is a company in heavy debt and does not have enough cash to settle the debt. This will be very serious if the business slows down suddenly or make losses continuously. The banks may not be willing to extend the loan to such a company and it may even be forced to shut down.

I do not think that the market sell off is something unexpected. The market has been going up for a long time, and getting higher each time. It is now the time for the market to slow down before it goes for the next run up. Buy the dip will be better for good companies only as I think they will be the first to recover when the market improves.

Share Buyback normally will be good for the stock price will go up with lesser shares around. But the companies can make better use of the capital to expand its business operations or buy up another business. So the capital can help the business to grow more. Unless there are not many opportunities for business expansion, then share buyback will be a better option for companies with the extra cash.

In my own opinion, I think doing enough research will be an important factor to decide when to buy and sell shares.. Are there any news that will affect the price movement of the stock? Is the news already factored in the current price already? Also during earnings seasons, the financial results will affect the stock price movement more. If the earnings are good and better than expected, it may be time to sell the stock if the price increase already reflects this. But if not, we can consider to buy the stock if the stock price is still undervalued.

In my opinion, I do not think that Fed officials should be active traders in the market as this will cause ethical problem. All investors should have an equal playing field when comes to investing. It is not right for any Fed staff no matter how senior they are to have important information to help them with their investment decisions. So, it is not unreasonable for the public to be unhappy over this issue. Efforts have to be stepped up to handle this problem very carefully before it becomes more serious as this is something involving trust and fairness.