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Thursday marked the first day of somewhat significant turbulence in our portfolio in what seems like forever, but indications are that Friday will be back to business as usual, at least for the first part of the day.

Small caps were basically flat over the past week. Since the beginning of May, the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index has made a strong move above prior resistance in the 980 to 990 range. And even with a little dip on Wednesday, the index is sitting right near an all-time high.

The major indexes were mixed on Friday, with the Dow rising 119 points and the Nasdaq falling 20 points, though many growth stocks took it on the chin as money rotated toward beaten-down names. As a result, we have one sale and two rating changes.

The markets came under heavy selling pressure today, as investors finally began to grapple with the possible effects of genuine trade war, one that included not just China, but many U.S. allies as well. As a result, we are selling two positions and moving two positions to hold.

The market was crushed yesterday as fears of a trade war with China picked up. At the close, the Dow had lost 724 points while the Nasdaq had fallen 179 points.

One Stock reports great first quarter results; and two more will report first quarter results on April 17 and 18.

As we move forward we’ll look to focus capital on companies with both solid growth profiles and encouraging price charts. One without the other hasn’t been working (and in fact many of these stocks are trending down), so there’s not much incentive to hold underperformers and hope for a quick turnaround.

The market and especially growth stocks fell sharply today, with the Dow losing 345 points and the Nasdaq falling 212 points, giving back all of yesterday’s bounce.

Remain cautious. Our Cabot Tides and Two-Second Indicator remain negative, but the market’s longer-term trend is still up and encouragingly, many stocks are holding support. We think there will be some great opportunities down the road, but until the buyers retake control, it’s best to cut back on new buying and hold a good amount of cash on the sideline.

The iShares EM Fund (EEM) has firmed up over the last few days, but has yet to actually kick out to the upside. So, while it’s still in the vicinity of its moving averages, we still have a caution signal in force.

One stock reports second quarter results and three more are rising this week.

Unless you’re a brand new subscriber to Cabot Undervalued Stocks Advisor, you’re aware that as we entered 2018, I had been advising investors to raise cash so that they could buy low during the yet-to-occur-but-overdue stock market correction. There was nothing amiss with U.S. stocks, in my estimation, other than that the markets rose continuously since the November 2016 general election.

This stock released earnings yesterday, so I’m discussing its share price, its fourth quarter earnings report and the company’s outlook. But I also want to talk about the differences between thriving companies and failing companies, and the murky in-between.

Markets pulled it together last week, with oversold financial and consumer stocks finding support and delivering gains for the holiday-shortened week. However, the market started this week with another sharp pullback Monday, bringing the Dow and S&P 500 back to their February lows. And markets look set to open lower today after China announced a slew of retaliatory 25% tariffs on U.S. exports. A rebound later this week is likely, but not certain.

If you own shares of this stock in our portfolio you were very pleased when shares rallied 28% yesterday.

At this point it seems prudent to trim three underperforming positions that haven’t been working well for us—especially since all three are at, or just below, the pivotal points I’ve been monitoring for several weeks.

The indexes continued the slippage that began last week, lowlighted by Thursday’s plunge that brought most major indexes below key support. As of mid-morning, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are down about 4% on the week.

During the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen the major indexes hit the skids but most of the resilient, growth-oriented stocks hold up relatively well. This week, though, the script was flipped—the holiday-shortened week saw the major indexes gain 1% (Nasdaq) to 2% (S&P 500), but leading stocks were hit very hard Tuesday and Wednesday.

Our Emerging Markets Timer has turned negative, but its action of the past two months looks more like a trading range than a downtrend. Overall we continue to take things on a stock-by-stock basis; we have several stocks that are teetering on the edge of being kicked out of the portfolio, but we’re inclined to be patient unless a stock’s decline forces our hand.

Most of the stocks in our portfolio that are holding up well (and in many cases moving higher) are either rated buy or hold, and those that aren’t have already been sold, or are rated hold, and being watched extremely closely.