Even with my limited knowledge, so far, of the stock market, I have been enthralled with the latest reports over the past few weeks, regarding IPO's, and their shaky ground.

First let's define Initial Public Offerings from Investor Words as "the first sale of stock by the company to the public."

Prior to "going public" (hehehe-I picked that up from my readings some where and it feels like I'm starting to pick up the jargon) companies spend time looking for backers who will fund their start-up. To encourage further funds for their start-up, they can offer shares or stock to the public. This is their first time out of the gates, so to speak.

Now…the uproar in the stock market over the past few weeks is directly related to the IPO's, I think. Especially, due to the sheer number of IPO's that have been Internet start-ups.

Remember when we talked about the NASDAQ (in Week 3) and we learned that these are the technology stocks. Well…it appears that the NASDAQ took a terrible dive recently and that upset or elated quite a few people. I haven't learned yet what the percentage points mean but from all the brouhaha, it appears to be a real "bubble buster".

Since I live and breathe on the Web and make my living doing it, I'm going to be particularly interested in technology stocks. My web travels take me to many places and companies that are strictly Web companies and I've seen some that I would like to consider as investment possibilities.

It feels risky, but…oh, what the heck! While I will invest in the tried and true, I'm having trouble resisting the excitement of watching a web company either make or break it, and with my investment dollars no less.

These past few weeks and the volatility of the stock market, in general, is a sobering reminder to me about the "respect" that I noted early on. I have read that the Stock Market is similar to a roller coaster ride and I'm beginning to see why.

Initial Public Offering's can also be bit complicated and somewhat misunderstood. When a company is listed on any one of the public stock exchanges for the very first time, -- the company is said to be going through its' IPO. Because the company was not listed publicly previous to the IPO, it has no trading history. What this means is that there often exists a great deal of uncertainty surrounding these newly issued securities: the level of risk associated with the offering and the true value of the security is unknown. Recent media coverage of IPO's has added a level of hype to this process. BUYandHOLD doesn't offer the purchase of IPO's to its' users because, generally speaking - buying an IPO security does not coincide with a long-term investment strategy, especially considering the level of uncertainty associated with these securities.

One additional site for information on IPO's. A bit technical but I found myself beginning to understand much of what these technical articles have to offer.

MarketWatch.com provides a 4-part series-The ABC's of IPO's-Speak The Language

Next week…real world trading (actual buildings you can walk into) versus on-line trading,

Thank you for joining me

Joyce