Time to Use Timing

Market timing has gotten a bad rapamong Wall Street strategists, many ofwhom favor a buy-and-hold approach.Market timing is for speculators, notinvestors, goes the mantra. The proswere shocked, therefore, when PeterBernstein, a respected name in WallStreet investment circles, switched gearsearly this year. Bernstein told a group ofinvestment managers that in a choppy,up-and-down market where the risk ofmissing a huge upside swing seems minimal,market timing may be the way togo. Although Bernstein maintains thathe does not advocate frequent trading,some critics of his stance say that amarket timing strategy is still a dangerousapproach for individual investors.