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While people in the U.S. are familiar with Aflac, Inc.’s (AFL, NYSE) memorable (if not annoying) “duck” mascot, most Americans would likely be surprised to know that the company actually does most of its business in Japan. Aflac is the world’s largest underwriter of supplemental cancer insurance, with the largest...

Weeks like this in the stock market tend to make us want to throw up our hands and head for the safety of cash.

Reinvesting dividends offers you the extra earning power of compounding, but if you’re on the fence about it, here are a few other factors to consider.

When I say that we are now in a stock-picker’s market, what I’m saying is that the only people who are making any money in stocks over the past six months are the people who are researching, buying and selling individual stocks.

The market’s rebound has been very impressive, though there are a couple of flies in the ointment (we’re not huge fans of defensive sectors rallying strongly) and this week looks like a good test for a couple of reasons: First, there are some key quarterly reports coming out in key technology areas, and trend-wise, many growth-oriented measures are closing in on five-week highs, which could turn the intermediate-term trend up … if all goes well. For now, nothing has officially changed: If we see more breakouts and further upside, it would obviously be bullish, but while some retrenchment from here wouldn’t necessarily be bearish, it would be a sign the market likely needs more time to set up. We’ll leave our Market Monitor at level 6 this week.

This week’s list is a bit more diversified than the past two weeks, and for our Top Pick, we’re going with a name that’s very strong following quarterly results, has triple-digit growth and a great story—if you enter, be sure to keep it small and use a loose stop.

One common market saying is that rotation is the lifeblood of a bull market, but that’s only partly true: If the rotation sees leaders pull in normally while buying pressures broaden out, that is a good thing, giving the market a stronger foundation for future gains. But if the leaders crack intermediate-term support while money chases beaten-down titles, that can lead to trouble as the market (and those laggards) often end up following the leaders lower. Happily, so far, the rotation that began in late June and has carried on since has been more in the former camp. While we’ve pulled in our horns a bit, we remain overall bullish. We’ll move our Market Monitor to a level 7 and see how things go from here.

This week’s list definitely has a value and turnaround flavor, following along with some of the rotation seen in recent weeks. Our Top Pick reacted well to earnings last week (heaviest daily volume since 2020!) after management reinstated bullish guidance. Start small and add on the way up.

We’ve moved into the second half of the year, but the overall picture is still the same for the stock market—there are some positives out there, but we’re still stuck in a downtrend—all indexes and growth funds are below key intermediate- and longer-term moving averages, and the fact that we’re seeing lots of stocks still hitting 52-week lows every day (even on big up days) tells us the broad market remains on the outs. All in all, it’s important to keep your eyes open and to stay flexible; the market can turn up at any time given that it’s looking months into the future, but as we’ve been writing for months, we have to see strength develop first, so defense remains the name of the game.



This week’s list is a hodgepodge of ideas, from big, steady-Eddies to smaller up-and-comers that want to get moving if the market can stabilize. Our Top Pick is an off-the-bottom name whose RP line has turned strong and whose growth is rapid and should accelerate.

Buy-writes and naked puts may seem to be drastically different trades, but they’re effectively identical for options traders.

Rivian (RIVN) has been our dog in the portfolio but I’ve held on because I think the potential for shares to come back and ultimately work well is still there. Yesterday’s first-quarter results don’t suggest that will happen right away, but there are certainly some bright spots.

Last evening Zeta (ZETA) responded to the Culper Research short report with a scathing review of the allegations, saying, in short, that Culper is full of it and doesn’t know what the heck it’s talking about. It couldn’t even get Zeta’s auditor right. Link to the press release here.

Earnings reports have been mixed and market activity muted this week, but today the four technology giants will report after the market closes. Germany reported that its economy contracted the most on record, shrinking 10.1% in the second quarter.

Monday was a bloodbath in the market. All three indexes posted massive losses. The Dow was down 2.6%, the S&P fell 3%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 3.43% on the day. The indexes recovered some of the losses on Tuesday. What can we expect going forward?