Just bought some General Electric

So -- General Electric (NYSE: GE) comes out with an awful earnings report, its stock is down over 12%, and the market as a whole is also behaving badly. What did I decide to do? I just had to buy some GE stock for my trading portfolio.

I own shares of GE in a long-term portfolio, but I've been keeping my eye on the stock as a potential short-term trading vehicle as well -- why not? If I make the wrong move and get stuck with it for a while, it's obviously not going to bother me, since I retain a long-term thesis on the company (well, it will bother me a little, since I'm expecting to perhaps harvest a quick gain on it in my tax-exempt account). But, I'd really be surprised if GE doesn't move up several bucks after this pounding today within a few months. So, you see, I'm not day trading, I'm just several-month-trading here (although if the stock were to go up a lot on Monday, I might sell then).

GE was yielding 3.8% at the time I purchased today. With that dividend buffer, the stock seems like a reasonable long-term or shorter-term idea to me.

Disclosure: I own shares of GE in a long-term account and a trading account; the shares I bought today will be sold soon if the price rises dramatically; positions, and rationale for selling, can change at any time.