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Last week had a couple of big news items and, not surprisingly, the market was all over the place, with some strong up action, a wild reversal and then some support after the Fed’s talk. All in all, we consider the shows of support modestly encouraging, along with the fact that sentiment has taken a sharp turn lower as the worries of the world come back into focus. But nothing has really changed with the here and now: The intermediate-term trend of the major indexes and most stocks is pointed down, with few names making any progress. That can obviously change, but for now, we’re still patiently waiting for the buyers to retake control. We’ll leave our Market Monitor at a level 5 tonight.


This week’s list is another mixed set of stocks, though we like the fact that we’re seeing a few more positive earnings moves. Our Top Pick is trying to leave behind a multi-month range after its recent earnings surge.

Current Market Outlook


The news-driven environment featuring incessant rotation and crosscurrents remains in effect; throw in the fact that breadth is narrow (about half of stocks are still below their 50-day lines despite the S&P 500 and Nasdaq being near new high ground; broad market indexes are chopping sideways) and earnings season is approaching and we think it’s best to continue going slow and aim to buy on weakness. That said, there are a growing number of good-looking growth stocks out there—not a ton are kiting higher, but there are lots of setups and, while there have been bumps in the road, the sellers really haven’t been able to sink their teeth into them despite some recent strength. All in all, we’re more optimistic than not, but stock selection and solid entry points are key.

This week’s list has a variety of sectors represented, including a few that have avoided the market’s volatility. Our Top Pick is Arista Networks (ANET), whose stock is in a smooth uptrend as growth picks up steam.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Antero Resources (AR)	15	13.8-14.3	12.3-12.7
Ares Management (ARES)	65	62-64	57-58
Arista Networks (ANET)	371	363-370	340-345
Bentley Systems (BSY)	64	62-64.5	57-58.5
FIGS, Inc. (FIGS)	44	42.5-45	36-37
L Brands (LB)	77	73-75.5	65.5-67.5
NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA)	821	775-795	700-710
PayPal (PYPL)	303	288-297	268-273
Rapid7 (RPD)	103	97-101	87-89
Synaptics (SYNA)	158	154-158	136-138

Centrus Energy (LEU) shares recovered five points this week to reach 35 as the Department of Energy announced that it and Centrus Energy’s American Centrifuge Operating, LLC will share the $150 million cost 50-50 to demonstrate production of a fuel called high assay low enriched uranium. This is still a buy for aggressive investors.

Many analysts now expect a “Goldilocks scenario,” with the economy growing nicely but not too fast. This would mean that the Fed does not need to worry about raising interest rates further to combat inflation. Good news for stocks.

I would like to clarify there are two reasons that I remove a stock as an Explorer recommendation. When I recommend a stock, I expect that it will deliver appreciation and dividends over the long haul unless I highlight that it is a more of a short-term trading opportunity.

Earnings season has arrived in full force. So far, cyclical companies are rallying and technology is faltering, just like before earnings.

Big tech earnings have been mixed so far, with more to come this week. Investors so far haven’t seen enough to change their view that AI investment is too high while revenues have not soared enough yet. That attitude could change soon or endure for a while longer. But AI will be back in favor at some point.

Despite plenty to worry about in the market including the rising tensions in the Middle East and the short-lived port strike, impressively the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq all rose marginally last week.

Markets seemed to rotate and flatten this week, and the Explorer portfolio was relatively steady as well. The Federal Reserve pledged to keep its spigot open by continuing to buy $120 billion per month of Treasury debt and mortgage-backed securities and hold short-term interest rates near zero through 2023. This is encouraging to markets but unnerves me a bit as we already seem awash in liquidity.

In our new recommendation today, we explore a new technology that could shift the electric vehicle market into another gear.

With interest rates expected to fall in the next few months, now is a prime opportunity for investors to consider buying gold and other rate-sensitive assets.