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Last week saw buying climaxes at 41 with selling climaxes at 46. Fairly subdued levels as the range-bound action on the indices continues. Buying climaxes were greatest among Health Care (4), Banks (3), Media (3), Biomedics (2), Buildings (2), Retailing (2),...

We have one rating change from Strong Buy to Hold and several earnings announcements coming up.

As we enter 2017, big changes are afoot, both economically and politically. News media is currently laser-focused on which stocks are or are not likely to fare well with a new political administration in Washington D.C. This is a good time to remind you why I make my investment decisions based on numbers and price charts, not on trending news topics.

Current Market Outlook


You can blame interest rates or the Chinese or the economic cycle or politicians or even the celestial bodies, but it when all is said and done, it doesn’t matter why stocks have been struggling; the fact is that they are. And if you simply recognize that fact and accept it, then you can turn to the next step, which is to protect the profits you’ve earned in the long bull market and be selective when it comes to venturing into new stocks. That’s what Cabot Top Ten Trader is all about. The Market Monitor falls one notch lower to 5, but the ten stocks in today’s issue are still—on their own—quite attractive, plus they come from a wide variety of industries.

Our Editor’s Choice is Clean Harbors (CLH), a stock that was last hot in 2011, after which it spent nearly seven years out of the limelight. But now it’s back and the chart risk looks low.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
American Outdoor Brands (AOBC)	13.69	14-15	13-13.5
Canopy Growth (CGC)	38.82	46-50	40.5-43
Clean Harbors (CLH)	66.42	68.5-71	63-64.5
Endo International plc (ENDP)	13.32	16-17	14-14.7
EOG Resources, Inc. (EOG)	101.98	127-131	120-122
Exact Sciences (EXAS)	116.91	67-70	62-64
Glaukos Corp. (GKOS)	67.84	58-61.5	53-55
Novocure (NVCR)	0.00	47.5-49.5	43-44
Roku, Inc. (ROKU)	150.46	63-66	58-60
Square, Inc. (SQ)	91.04	83-86	76-78

The market remains in good health and trending higher, so while there’s always a possibility of a big correction starting any day, the important thing is to remain heavily invested, because the trend is your friend.

Most of our portfolio stocks have been performing superbly (with three hitting new highs today!), but one that isn’t is Tyson Foods (TSN), so that’s now a sell.



As for the newest recommendation, after last week’s dividend-payer, this week we swing back to the small and aggressive side of the market, with a fast-growing company that’s thriving by providing a great consumer service in the cloud.



Full details in the issue.

This is a short week, with my last update just a few days ago, but our Explorer portfolio is doing well. In the last few days, Sea (SE), NovoCure (NVCR) and Alibaba (BABA) are each up 10 points and ElectraMeccanica (SOLO) has increased 20%. As the clouds lift with the flurry of positive vaccine announcements and election uncertainty gone, markets will go into December with more confidence but with lingering doubts about the strength of the economy. Our new recommendation is a leader in critical cancer diagnostics highlighting the benefits of a sharp focus on one market.

The volatile and sloppy start to 2025 continued last week as the indexes fell hard on Monday, recovered in the middle part of the week, and then lost ground again on Friday. For the week the S&P 500 fell 0.2%, the Dow lost 0.5%, and the Nasdaq declined by 0.5%.

Despite some wobbles early in January, the S&P 500 closed at a new all-time high on Thursday. And even though the indexes pulled back marginally on Friday, by week’s end the S&P 500 had gained 1.7%, the Dow had rallied 1.83% and the Nasdaq had added 1.53% (though the Nasdaq got hit again on Monday, led lower by AI stocks).

The AI theme came under heavy pressure last Monday, which weighed on the markets. However, by week’s end the bulls had bought the dip and impressively the S&P 500 had fallen only marginally, the Dow had eked out a small gain, while the Nasdaq “only” lost 1.5%.

Before I dive into my election preview, I first wanted to address Palantir (PLTR) earnings as the company will report its quarterly results today after the close.

Before I dive into my election preview, I first wanted to address Palantir (PLTR) earnings as the company will report its quarterly results today after the close.

It’s been a relatively quiet week if you follow the major indexes, with the big-cap measures flat and some of the broader indexes down less than 1%. And that keeps the top-down evidence broadly neutral: Most indexes are trending sideways, with some (big-cap indexes, even a growth measure or two) near the top of their ranges while others are stuck in the mud. Meanwhile, things like Treasury rates, our Aggression Index and other factors remain on the intermediate-term fence.

The market’s sharp downmove has continued this week, with all of the major indexes sporting sharp losses in the 3% to 4.5% range and growth-heavy measures down another 6%. We are seeing a small bounce this morning following the jobs report (mostly in line) and some positive quarterly reports, but nothing that changes the overall picture.

There is no sugarcoating it: last week was ugly for the market as the S&P 500 fell 2.3%, the Dow lost 3.1%, and the Nasdaq declined by another 2.4%. And while the market looks terrible, on a positive note, stocks had their best day of the year on Friday.

It seemed like the post-Fed action from two weeks ago may have paved the way for another leg up in the leadership. While that’s not off the table, we’re continuing to see a lot of crosscurrents out there as money sloshes around. What does it mean? Not much yet, as the major evidence remains positive.