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It’s easy to understand what a leading economic indicator is and why it leads. If purchasing managers are increasing their buying, it’s because their businesses need new equipment to do business with. Increasing consumer confidence will lead to more consumer spending. Simple. Trailing indicators are a little more complicated, and the amount of attention being paid at the end of last week to layoffs, initial unemployment claims and the unemployment rate are a great illustration. As with corporate earnings, how the figure compares to estimates is more important than the absolute number.

Breaking news: Teenagers have stopped caring (as much) about brands and labels and are starting to shop based on savings and sales. Who ever thought we’d see this day? This week’s New York Times contained the story of how the recession has turned teenage shoppers, one of the most powerful spending groups, into penny pinchers. This, of course, has hurt some of the higher-priced teen shops, like Abercrombie & Fitch, while others, like A&F’s lower-priced sister Hollister, are benefiting from this change.

Have dividend-paying stocks become too popular? Mark Deschaine recently asked just that in Deschaine & Company’s Viewpoint, which has long focused on dividend-paying stocks: “In a world of zero interest rates and another mediocre year for stocks, dividends are garnering more investor and press attention. As a result, we’re increasingly asked if the...

I began writing this dividend-focused edition of Investment of the Week in response to demand: all our surveys and other evidence show increasing interest in dividend-paying stocks. Other analysts have noticed the trend as well; I’ve even seen some of our experts calling 2011 the “year of the dividend.” Now, a...

The Cabot Global Stocks Explorer portfolio is doing well in 2019 and a number of recommendations have recently surged on the strength of impressive earnings and an improving environment for emerging and international stocks.

The broad market is in fine shape, with most major indexes at or near their highs and all Cabot’s market-timing indicators bullish.

Last year, I wrote about my former life as a newspaper employee and what I think about the hurting business. A lot has changed since then, with several newspapers shutting down operations (or threatening to), including the Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and others laying off even more employees as revenues continue to plummet. But the question remains: Can newspapers be saved?

Inflation may be easing somewhat but interest rates will continue to move upward, presenting a headwind for markets. Investors are acting on bargains but in restrained ways until an uptrend develops. The Explorer’s Fanuc (FANUY) is up 10% in the last two weeks and Chilean real asset play SQM is up about 25% in the last five weeks. Today, we add another new overseas play, this time from London.

Of course, I couldn’t finish this weekend’s Wealth Advisory without at least mentioning the overall market. In case you missed it ... the sellers have taken control. But the most important thing is that the sellers had taken control of most stocks before this week - I wrote two weeks ago about how there was a growing divergence between the few leading glamour stocks and the broad market.

While the market continues to move forward, The “Buffett Indicator,” which takes the broadest Wilshire 5000 Index and divides it by the annual U.S. GDP, is now at a record high. In doing the math, the Buffett Indicator stands at about 194%. This figure is well above the 159% seen just before the dot-com bubble.

The overall market remains in an uptrend, but we’re seeing more and more unusual action among individual growth names, and thus are making moves mostly on a stock-by-stock basis.

There remain a ton of crosscurrents and news-driven action out there, but after a vicious rotation a week and a half ago, growth stocks have firmed up and the overall market is in good shape. Thus, we’re starting to put some money to work, averaging up in one of our stocks and starting a half-sized position in another. And if the good vibes continue, it shouldn’t take us long to get heavily invested.
In tonight’s issue, we review all of our stocks, talk about a couple of rare, blastoff-type measures that flashed that bode well for the major indexes and highlight a couple of smaller names in one growth sector that have great stories, numbers and charts.

Gold has pulled back 5% from all-time highs set earlier this month, but is the gold rally over? I don’t think so, and here’s how I’m playing it now.

The S&P 500 just entered a bear market, but fears of another leg down remain. If it happens, you’ll want to own these 4 defensive ETFs.

Looking for the best airlines to invest in? If you don’t want to get taken for a ride, look for these features.

Emerging markets don’t offer a ton of great buying options at the moment. But I do have a very good watch list stock for when the tide inevitably turns.

Defense contractors have been beaten down for years, but several of them now look like good turnaround stocks. These six appear intriguing.

We’ve all heard the personal finance advice on how saving can allow you to live comfortably in your golden years.

The story remains mostly the same in the market as it has for the past few weeks: The intermediate-term trend for nearly all major indexes and the vast majority of individual stocks is pointed down. That said, there also are a decent number of stocks holding up fairly well—and with earnings season starting in a major way this week, the potential is there for some leadership to develop if we see some strong upside gaps following reports. We’re all for it happening, but overall it’s best to remain cautious as the market attempts to turn the corner. Once again, we’ll leave our Market Monitor at a level 5.

This week’s list has a wide array of good-looking names, though for our Top Pick we’re going with a liquid leader that, while not in the first inning of its run, acts like it wants to go higher.