Best of two bad choices

[straightflush]

I have spent the past few months reading basic persomal investing books. Nothing too complicated. Most of these books advocated buying index funds until you were sure of stocks to buy, so this became my plan.

Fast forward to about a month ago, my best friend starts telling me about all the stocks he bought. Not me I say, although I certainly can take risk, I just don't know enough to be buying individual stocks. About a week ago, after hearing all the time about his new stock picks and how everything is making awesome returns, I decide to buy a few.

I decided, since it's my last year in school. I have some savings just sitting in money market, why not just buy a few stocks that look decent and who cares if they go up or down. So, I buy HNP, this seems like a sure winner. Everyone knows China isn't going to be stopping growth anthing soon. Next I buy SPKL. This was the biggest mistake as I did minimal research and went off of some advice that wasn't backed my facts. My last pick has been EXM, which I still think will be a good company.

Anyway, if you look at these stocks, all of them have dropped a lot in the past week (since I've owned them.) As of right now I know I'm not going to buy anymore stocks for a long time, if ever. My question is, should I continue to hold on to these stocks despite the huge daily drops, or should I get out before I lose any more money.