No, but there are safer stocks. If you want to stay fully invested in the stock market, look to large-cap stalwarts. Some blue chips - outside the financial sector - are unjustly at a discount now and have relatively low risk.
Caterpillar (CAT), for instance, has fallen 15% since mid-July, while ConocoPhillips (COP) slid 14% during the same period. And Nucor (NUE), notes Morningstar's Patrick Dorsey, is 28% off recent highs. "There are a lot of very good companies that are on sale right now, and it's probably a good time to be doing some buying," says Mike Mortensen, chief executive of PNC Investments.
 Mortensen recommends looking for companies in the bargain bin.
Are there safe stocks now?
|  Will the subprime lending meltdown and credit crunch send us into a financial free fall? We asked the sharpest minds in business to share their reactions to the downturn, and their insights on the road ahead. (more)  For years big players ignored obvious dangers and reaped rich rewards. Now they are paying the price - and so is everyone else, writes Fortune's Shawn Tully. (more) |
