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It’s a thorny subject, but one that I think merits at least a brief discussion: direct government intervention as it pertains to the private defense sector—and by extension, to our holding in GE Aerospace (GE).

On January 7, the White House issued an executive order (EO) that prohibited defense companies from making share repurchases and paying dividends to shareholders. It also placed restrictions on executive compensation, except for companies making investments to modernize weapons production facilities.

The first half of the year produced stock market returns that few, if any, anticipated. The S&P 500 has uncorked a 15.6% year-to-date return (through last Friday), a remarkably strong showing relative to the index’s history. Brokerage firm forecasts for the rest of the year have an exceptionally wide breadth given the equally wide range of economic forecasts. We will readily admit that we are not in the forecasting business. This saves us from the considerable embarrassment that comes with forecasting as well as an immense amount of time. Our approach requires us to be “macro-aware” but not “macro-driven.” As such, we are well aware of the milieu of others’ forecasts, and the rationales behind them, but find them unactionable for our style of investing.

In today’s note, we discuss pertinent developments for some of the stocks in the portfolio, including Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM), Alcoa (AA), Kenvue (KVUE), Pan American Silver (PAAS), Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI) and Toast (TOST).

Precious metals miners Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM) and Pan American Silver (PAAS) continue to lead the portfolio after making yet another series of new highs this week.

The S&P 500 and other major indexes finished up yesterday after slightly negative first-quarter economic growth. Not much movement in Explorer stocks this week except Sea Limited (SE), up 11%.

Chinese exports have recently plunged as the psychology of tariffs takes a toll. China relied on exports for about a third of its economic growth last year.

In today’s note, we discuss a flurry of key news developments for several of our portfolio positions, including Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM), Atlassian (TEAM), Intel (INTC) and Janus Henderson Group (JHG).


Two strong earnings reactions after Thursday’s market close bode well for two of our recent portfolio additions.

There is a doom-and-gloom quality to much of the talk about the subprime crisis. The reasoning is that this wad of bad debt is hanging like an enormous boulder over the stock market highway, and that when it falls, the world as we know it will essentially end. In this regard, it’s a lot like assertions that the U.S. national debt (or current account balance or poor educational system or declining manufacturing base, etc.) will ruin everything forever.

Legendary investor J.P. Morgan was often asked what the stock market would do. “It will fluctuate,” replied the taciturn Morgan.

The psychology of the markets can be puzzling. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve, America’s Central Bank, raised its benchmark interest rates 75 basis points, the most since 1994. And the market liked it because it was way overdue and will hopefully help stem inflationary pressures in the economy. Will it slow growth, housing sales, consumer spending, and raise the carrying cost of U.S. debt? Yes, of course.

Monthly dividend stocks are a perfect source of regular income you can use to pay bills, rent or buy groceries. Here are five to add to your portfolio.

Yesterday, you heard from Timothy Lutts, who wrote about the stock market’s three-week rally and why it’s time to buy. He wrote, “My charts tell me the worst has passed, and this correction will soon be replaced by a new leg up in the Bull Market of 2009. So my goal today is to get you back into the market, so you’ll be one of the early winners!” And he recommended that you follow the guidelines in Cabot Stock of the Month Report, of which he is the editor. Today, I want to delve into the history of that publication and explain why it’s so popular among investors, especially those new to the stock investing game.

Stand pat. The market has been pulling back for the past two weeks, but our market timing indicators are still bullish and most of our stocks are acting well. That said, there’s not enough evidence for us to put more money to work, so except for two small changes (we’re switching Sabre (SABR) to a Hold rating and putting Facebook (FB) back on Buy), we’ll keep our seven stocks (and a cash position of 30%) and watch how things unfold.

The price charts on the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are looking more and more like they’re just resting before beginning another run-up. Insurance and bank stocks’ price charts look identical, while energy stocks’ charts are more actively bullish.

Pull in your horns a bit. In last night’s Special Bulletin, we cut our loss in Kate Spade and moved our Five Below and Sabre to Hold. Our Cabot Tides are now on the fence, though our Cabot Trend Lines and Two-Second Indicator remain positive. We now have 30% cash in the Model Portfolio, with our next move depending on whether the major indexes can hold support.

Last week, reviewing the 10 Revolutionary Stocks, I asked you which ones you owned.

Royal Caribbean, Priceline.com and Winnebago are all Cabot Top Ten Weekly stocks.

We don’t spend much time thinking about the news. Instead, we look at the market itself.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been the talk of Wall Street all year, these 7 ETFs allow you to increase your exposure to AI using a variety of strategies and selection criteria.

BYD (BYDDY) reported great earnings, and Novo Nordisk (NVO) got a lift from the World Health organization this past week – but the big news is that Alibaba (BABA) surprised markets by announcing on Tuesday a plan to split the $220 billion goliath into six standalone units.