All is well in Quant Trader land. Our two positions are currently in great shape with the potential to take some decent profits off the table. We still have 39 days left until the April 21, 2023, expiration cycle, so there is a good chance that we take both of our open trades off the table for profits and look to immediately sell more premium, especially with the recent pop in implied volatility.

After the recent pullback, the All-Weather portfolio is now up 0.55%, with the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) doing the heavy lifting, up 7.19% since it was introduced to the portfolio back on 6/15/23. Besides DBC, we’ve rolled all of our positions to the April 21, 2023 expiration cycle. Our DBC 24 calls are due to expire this week. I will most likely allow them to carry through expiration and sell more calls after expiration, unless we have an opportunity to buy back our DBC 24 calls for $0.05 or less.

Earnings season is officially behind us. However, that doesn’t mean that we won’t have an opportunity or two rear its head on a weekly basis. This week FedEx (FDX) presents a potential opportunity. The options are highly liquid and the IV rank sits above 48. Moreover, we have the ability to create a 42.5-point range around the expected move of 27.5 points. We won’t know for certain if a trade will be placed until Thursday, but all looks promising at the moment.

Not much has changed from last week. We are loaded up in the Income Wheel Portfolio, although I wouldn’t mind stepping into a few new positions. If I do decide to add a position or two to the portfolio, one will have a low IV and the other will be the exact opposite, with a high IV. The reason, as stated in the past, is that I like to diversify the overall beta of my positions so that our overall level of risk is balanced.

Led by the meltdown in the financial sector, the market had an awful week. The numbers weren’t pretty as the S&P 500 fell 4.76%, the Dow lost 4.45%, and the Nasdaq declined 4.16%.

Led by the meltdown in the financial sector, the market had an awful week. The numbers weren’t pretty as the S&P 500 fell 4.76%, the Dow lost 4.45%, and the Nasdaq declined 4.16%.

The biggest story of the past few weeks has been the Fed’s renewed jawboning for higher-for-longer interest rates, with the Fed Chief even saying hikes could re-accelerate this month (0.5% instead of 0.25%, etc.) if economic data remains too hot. Indeed, since the start of February, Treasury rates have risen an average of three-quarters of a point or more, while futures are starting to price in another 1.25% of hikes this year, up from 0.5% expected just a month ago. Translation: A lot of rate-hike worry has been priced in during the past few weeks.

Market struggles resumed as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell continues to warn of interest rate hikes as inflation concerns linger. MP Materials (MP) was downgraded to sell last week as Elon Musk’s Investor Day comments raised questions about future demand for MP’s rare earths. Most Explorer stocks were steady as Polestar (PSNY) posted strong revenue growth and an ambitious sales target for 2023. This week’s recommendation is a smart way to play China’s emerging market rebound.

A new day, and maybe a new term for some of us. That is, “rolling recession.” After expectations of a hard landing, then soft landing, then pushing a possible recession further down the line, economists have now decided we may just be having a rolling recession, which affects just a few industries at a time.


So, I guess, currently, that could possibly mean that the following sectors which are negative so far in 2023 may be in a recession,

Inflation has come down. But in the past, when inflation stayed this high for this long, it took about a decade to get rid of it. That’s why the inflation rate averaged 7.25% in the decade of the 1970s and 5.82% in the 1980s.

Once that inflation genie gets out of the bottle, it has historically been a long ordeal to get it back in. Higher inflation and interest rates may persist for several years to come. That’s a different economic situation than we have faced in a long time. And it is changing the investment landscape.

As investors, we need to invest in a way that not only keeps pace with inflation but exceeds the rate of inflation in order to actually grow a nest egg in real terms. In this issue, I highlight two portfolio dividend stocks that have a unique ability to thrive during inflation beyond most dividend stocks.

Today, I’m recommending a micro-cap “thrift” (a type of bank) that is likely to get acquired within the next year or two.

Key points:
· Insiders are buying like crazy.
· The stock is buying back its own stock hand-over-fist.
· 70% of thrifts ultimately get acquired, and this thrift will be eligible to be acquired in 12 months.

All the details are inside this month’s Issue. Enjoy!

What started out as another troubling week for the bulls turned encouraging as the indexes rebound nicely on Thursday and Friday.

It’s earnings season. That 3-to-4-week period where most public companies report their results. I find earnings season to be a great time to check in on your holdings. Many think that the market is too short-term oriented and that quarterly earnings don’t really matter—what matters is annual progress.

We continue to watch in amazement the values that the market puts on electric vehicle makers, with the most recent example of Rivian Automotive (RIVN). Since its IPO at $78/share, RIVN shares have doubled, making the EV company’s roughly 900 million shares worth a total of about $144 billion. This makes it the #3 most valuable car company in the world.

What inflation? What supply-chain issues? Headlines be damned. This market is on the cusp of yet another new all-time high.

The bull market is back. But there seems to be a disconnect between recent stock performance and the headlines. What’s going on?

The idea that gold prices can rise while the dollar is strengthening appears, at first glance, to be a contradiction. After all, how can gold (which is priced in dollars) advance when the dollar is moving higher at the same time?

This week’s Friday Update includes our comments on earnings from eight companies. Also, Toshiba (TOSYY) reported earnings this morning, along with its plan to split into three companies.

First a quick personal note. Our backup plan for the kids today (out of school because of the holiday) fell through so I’ll be spending much of the day with two young, energetic boys who could care less about the stock market! I’ll be keeping tabs on things but may not get to email responses today unless a response is super timely.

Looking at the bigger picture, nothing has changed with our overall thoughts: The evidence tells us it’s a bull market and that the intermediate-term uptrend remains intact.

Like nature, stock markets have seasons. We experienced a brief but frigid winter about 18 months ago when nearly every stock wilted as capital markets froze (no pun intended, mostly). Then, just as surely as spring follows winter, an exceptionally generous dose of warm sunshine, water and fertilizer in the forms of extremely aggressive monetary and fiscal liquidity and stimulus returned the stock market to brilliant health where nearly every stock blossomed with vibrant growth.

Times are good. After a rough September, the market soared 8% higher to a new all-time high. Earnings have been spectacular, and the bull market is back, although the market has pulled back in the last couple days.

The long-awaited infrastructure bill is putting more wind in our sails and, after eight months of working through a bear market turned range-bound slog, we’re enjoying a bull market in Greentech once more.

This week’s Friday Update includes our comments on earnings from eight companies.

In the past 30 days, 14 analysts have increased their EPS estimates for this energy company.

This eyecare company is forecasted to grow its earnings by 19.2% next year.

The top five holdings of this ETF are Saia Inc (SAIA, 3.06% of assets), Chart Industries Inc (GTLS, 2.89%), Exponent Inc (EXPO, 2.58%), UFP Industries Inc (UFPI, 2.55%) and John Bean Technologies Corp (JBT, 2.51%).

The most dominant theme in the metals sector right now is the leadership of lithium in an otherwise dull (short-term) market environment.

Accolade (ACCD) reported Q1 fiscal 2022 results after the bell yesterday that beat on the top line and missed on the bottom line. Revenue was up 66% to $59.5 million (beating by $3.7 million) while adjusted EPS of -$0.87 missed by $0.47. Management raised full-year guidance to $300 million - $305 million (from $260 million - $265 million) due to positive momentum and benefits from acquisitions.

Some of this REIT’s household name tenants are: Whole Foods, Kroger, Petco, U.S. Bank, Chase, and Five Guys. The REIT has a current annual dividend yield of 5.38%, paid monthly.

The top five holdings in this fund are Facebook Inc A (FB, 9.83% of assets), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN, 8.92%), Berkshire Hathaway Inc Class A (BRK.A, 5.68%), Microsoft Corp (MSFT, 5.33%), and Apple Inc (AAPL, 3.18%).

The brightest star in the metals sector of late has unquestionably been lithium. Recent favorable developments pertaining to the electric vehicle (EV) industry have boosted lithium’s profile since the white metal is a critical component for EV batteries.

Back in early 2000, when the Internet stock bubble was preparing for its long deflationary period, the charting service we used categorized Internet stocks into four groups: ISP/Content, E-Commerce, Software and Security/Solutions. At the time, these groups included 470 stocks.

This penny stock is speculative, but has an impressive book of patents and collaborations.

Today we’re going to part ways with two positions that we added in May and which we’ll make a little more than 10% on. Both positions were trading higher a couple weeks ago but have lost some momentum recently.

This penny stock is speculative, but has an impressive book of patents and collaborations.

A few Cabot Options Trader subscribers have asked me about ways to protect gains in their portfolios, so I thought I would write to everyone with a couple of strategies using options to hedge your portfolio.

A subscriber recently asked me if I keep a journal of my trades. Many traders keep journals so they can look back at their trades and evaluate what they did right and what they did wrong.

Want to know how the big institutional investors use options? Here is an example of how one trader spent $132 million on three technology stocks.

Options trading has its own vernacular. To know how to do it, you need to know what every options term means. Here are some of the basics.

Our Cabot Momentum Trader’s market timing system consists of two parts—one based on the action of three select, growth-oriented market indexes, and the other based on the action of the fast-moving stocks Cabot Momentum Trader features.