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The week started out relatively quietly, with the major indexes basically meandering sideways through Wednesday, even after the Federal Reserve’s statement. But since Thursday morning, things have been whipping around (mostly on the upside) as it appears a U.S.-China trade deal/truce is at hand.

Raise some cash. Our Cabot Tides are now on the fence, and more important, individual stocks have been hammered during the past week, with a few showing abnormal action. In the Model Portfolio, we’ve sold a few positions lately, leaving us with around 40% in cash.

The yellow flags of the past couple of weeks finally hit a breaking point starting late last week, with most indexes and leading stocks hitting a good-sized pothole. If the sharp dip is over, there should be plenty of stocks that are providing new and/or follow-on entry points (rebounds from their 50-day lines, for instance). But we’re still tightening stops, too, and could easily turn more cautious if the market/stocks crack further from here.

One of our stocks has lackluster performance and pattern of lower lows and lower highs, it’s time for us to move on and sell. Our capital will be better invested in the new pick, and I have several viable candidates on my watch list!

This morning, our longest and most-profitable holding, came under attack by Muddy Waters, a firm that specializes in publishing negative research on a company and selling its stock short.

Remain bullish. Our stance hasn’t changed since last week, as our trend-following indicators are bullish and growth stocks are acting very well in general. Our cash position remains at 20%, though we could do new buying if we see a proper setup.

Emerging market stocks have had a nasty week, with the iShares EM Fund (EEM) dropping decisively below its 25- and 50-day moving averages. While we have several stocks that are vulnerable, we’re going to stand pat for now and have no moves in the portfolio.

Stocks pulled back yesterday, but the market’s intermediate-term trend remains up. Stay the course, and resist overreacting to the oscillations.

We could see some funky trading action next week since the Wednesday Fourth of July holiday will mean a lot of people out of the office. But then the market will start looking forward to Q2 earnings reports, which will begin to come out in late July and early August. Stay the course as the volatility probably isn’t over hasn’t yet translated to lowered growth expectations.

The market was mixed today, as the Dow rose 94 points, but the Nasdaq dropped 54 points and many growth stocks were hit hard.

Emerging market stocks have had a volatile week, with the iShares EM Fund (EEM) popping above its 25- and 50-day moving averages on Wednesday, but slipping back to the 50-day today.

This morning, the company reported third quarter earnings per share of $0.41 vs. the consensus estimate of $0.42 (August year-end), and revenue of $1.2 billion vs. the expected $1.29 billion.

Despite all the tariff talk, small caps continue to hold up well and even rose by 0.3% this past week.

I wrote to you recently about upcoming changes in the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS), which classifies stocks into 11 sectors and dozens of industries, and is commonly used in professional portfolio management as a guideline to portfolio diversity.

In today’s update, I outline the reasons why I have every intention of remaining invested in various oil industry stocks in the foreseeable future and give a detailed update on all positions in the portfolio.

Markets remain volatile, and some stock indexes started to diverge toward the end of last week. The rotation means some stocks are looking stronger than others, but overall the intermediate trend remains up. There are still plenty of yellow flags out there, but the market’s trend remains up, so if you’re underinvested, feel free to do a little buying here.

As early as last summer, I predicted that the S&P 500 would continue rising into early 2018, then experience its overdue correction. I was about a month off on the timing. I was guessing March, but the correction arrived in February. I was right on the size of the downturn, though, almost to the penny. That was a small part technical analysis and a large part luck.

It’s been a split market this week. Including this morning’s U.S.-China trade-inspired dip, the S&P 500 is down 0.2% on the week, while the Dow Industrials and NYSE Composite are down about 1%. The intermediate-term trend for these indexes remains up, though all still have overhead to chew through from earlier this year.