Rule of Thumb: Ignore Stock Tips from the Drunk Table

Makes sense in retrospect, right? And yet, it's happened in the past. Somehow, the topic came up again this week, and by and large the "safest" bet appeared to be GE. It was like a bank account, but with better dividends.

And then a story like this shows up:

The second-largest U.S. company by market capitalization said profit fell about 20 percent at its financial services arms, which accounted for more than a third of GE's total revenue in the quarter. But weakness in health care and industrial divisions also weighed on results.

The news sent GE shares down more than 11 percent in early trade on the New York Stock Exchange, the sharpest drop in two decades, dragging down global markets.

The other company we talked about was AMD, which everyone assured us would never fail... but you might want to take that with a grain of salt now.

(original article caught by SMiller)