Daily Posts Archive

Global stock, bond, oil and gold markets continue to bounce around as investors look for trends that signal a re-entry into stocks. Today, I’d like to review facts vs. fiction, in order to give us a little more peace as we live through the stock market correction.

A couple of weeks ago, I published my Small-Cap Outlook for 2016. In it, I briefly described what I expect to be one of the most exciting trends in 2016—virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). For the record, I’m far from the only person with this view. And I think that’s a good thing—it means the profit potential is that much greater since interest is so widespread!

The title of this piece is “The Gold Star and the Falling Knife.” So I guess I’d better pay that off. The Gold Star is a reference to the energetic rebound in the price of gold that’s been lifting mining stocks for the past couple of weeks. This is mostly a defensive move by investors who are looking some something that will hold value in a chaotic market environment. And after a nearly four-year pullback in gold prices, even those who aren’t fans of precious metals (like me) are getting a little gold gleam in their eyes.

The stock market losses continue to pile up, and it’s discouraging for any investor. But there are positive signs if you look closely enough.

While there isn’t any substitute for the diet and exercise you promised yourself you’d do six weeks ago, there’s a stock diet that will allow you to make huge progress in your equity portfolio. It’s called the SNaC Diet, and it’s the best way to get your portfolio in shape, even if you can’t seem to make progress in the campaign against your love handles. SNaC stands for Story, Numbers and Chart, and it’s the method I use to pick growth stocks for the Cabot Emerging Markets Investor.