Mourad Haroutunian, BA, MA

Mourad joined Profit Confidential as a financial writer. He has worked for several media companies across three continents, in many different languages, and on various platforms, all with a single factor in common: news. It was Bloomberg where Mourad fell in love with stock market writing, Proactive Investors where he became fascinated with U.S. and Canadian equities, and MT Newswires where he felt at one with speed and real-time reporting.
Addicted to online reading, Mourad has a passion for personal finance, world politics, and intercultural relations. He holds a BA and MA in journalism and mass communication.
Mourad likes to explore every corner in the cities he lives in or travels to by driving highways and walking down the streets and alleys. Away from the digital world, Mourad enjoys spending time with his little son and daughter.
Get to know Mourad…
What was your first stock market investment?
My first investments were really unforgettable moments in my life. I was closely watching a friend who had invested a bulk of his savings in an amazingly quickly appreciating blue chip. He bought the stock at $9.00 and saw it rising to $10.00, then swiftly plunging to $5.00 within a few weeks. At that time, I decided—with my below-zero stock trading knowledge—to invest $5,000, thinking the stock couldn’t drop further. I made a $50.00 gain in my first trade and you can’t imagine how excited I was. I decided to stay away a bit to see how things would be going. However, repeated chatter by my friend and others that the price would definitely go up to $6.00 prompted me to re-invest the $5,000. That was a catastrophe. The stock never went up again and I sold it a year later at $3.00, losing $2,000. The stock then nosedived to $0.30 on the heels of the 2008 financial crisis. The lesson: don’t listen to amateurish projections and more importantly, eradicate your stock trading illiteracy…
What is your investment philosophy?
Stick to the trading ABCs that most experts advise: invest only the amount of money that you would not need in the coming two years; every investment you purchase should not exceed five percent of your portfolio; when you are 25 years old, put 75% of your portfolio in stocks and the rest in low-risk securities; and flip that ratio when you are 75 years old (but make it 50%:50% when you are 50 years old). One more basic tip that I like: don’t wait until the share price goes down beyond 10%—sell it.
Dow Jones Industrial Average Tracks Oil Rally, Climbing Import Prices The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened higher on Tuesday as rallying oil prices and climbing import prices overpowered any disappointment from Alcoa Inc.’s dismal kickoff to earnings season. At 9:35 a.m. in New York, the Dow Jones index…
Big Rally Coming for Gold Prices A trader is betting more than $2.0 million that gold prices could appreciate 10% in one month. The bet on SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:GLD)—the exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks gold—was made on Thursday, when bullish trades outpaced bearish ones. CNBC reports…
Dow Jones Industrial Average Rises Ahead of Earnings Season Start A recovery in the U.S. dollar against the Japanese yen helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) to open higher on Monday as investors brace for the corporate earnings season that starts with results from aluminum producer Alcoa…
U.S. Economic Collapse Coming An economic collapse in the U.S. is not a myth. One more permabear analyst affirms that a U.S. recession is “virtually inevitable,” echoing Donald Trump’s pessimistic view on the U.S. economy. Albert Edwards of Société Générale says his recession indicator is now "flashing red"…
Lower Dow Jones Industrial Average Weighs on Sentiment The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell on Thursday despite a positive report on U.S. jobless claims that indicated a healthy labor market in the world’s largest economy. Investors continued to assess minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee and…
Silver Prices Snaps Two-Day Decline The silver price appreciated more than one percent on Tuesday, snapping a two-day decline, as risk-averse traders hurried to buy safety-haven investments and sell risky assets like stocks amid a global stock-market selloff. The May silver price rose to as high as $15.22…
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropped sharply on Tuesday, tracking global stock markets, amid renewed concerns about negative interest rates and oil’s recent rout. The Dow Jones index fell 0.7% to 17,609.14 at 9:47 a.m. Twenty-seven stocks were declining, while three were advancing. The S&P 500 dropped…
Poor Outlook for Toronto Real Estate Market The overpriced Toronto real estate market could join the Vancouver real estate market in an upcoming correction that could occur very soon as the oil rout continues to weigh on many aspects of the Canadian economy, according to Capital Economics. “Housing…