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The market remains a mixed bag, with some big-cap indexes moving up, but just about everything else still stuck in a trading range, while leading growth stocks remain hit or miss. That said, there are some encouraging signs, including some fresher leadership and resilient action among a bunch of names we’re watching and own, so we continue to play things in the middle--we’re holding some strong names and actually averaging up on one of our stocks tonight, but we’re also holding a chunk of cash and being selective.

“Markets are never wrong, only opinions are.” – Jesse Livermore

Few quotes related to investing have stuck with me more than that one.

Jesse Livermore, of course, is an investment legend who, in the early 20^th century, pioneered day trading and who was the basis of the best-selling Edwin Lefevre book, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator – considered by many to be the investing Bible. Many of his words are relevant to today’s market, nearly 85 years after his death. And I think the above quote is as evergreen as any and is important to remember in bull markets like this one.

The market remains healthy, with all major indexes in uptrends and no major signs of divergence, and thus I continue to recommend heavy investment in stocks that meet your portfolio’s goals.

This week’s recommendation is an American apparel company whose stock is cheap and thus has great capital gains potential. Plus it pays a 5.8% dividend!

As for the current portfolio, most of our stocks are performing fine; a few are hitting record highs; and one or two stocks have become worrisome, but not enough to cause me to take action.

The recent (and ongoing?) tech momentum reversal appears to be due to a variety of concerns ranging from doubt about valuations, worries about the pace of the economy’s recovery, the lack of another stimulus package and slowing growth in the Federal Reserve’s asset purchases.

When we’re in a strong bull market, it’s like driving down the highway on a clear summer day. Visibility is unlimited and your tires grip as well as they ever will. You can go pedal to the metal and rack up the miles - and the profits - quickly. But a bear market, such as we’re in today, is more like the weather I drove in Friday. It’s far less tolerant of aggressive behavior. The effects of your mistakes are magnified. And if you make enough wrong decisions, it can ruin you.

One yield-boosting strategy that’s increased in popularity is writing covered calls on dividend paying stocks.

The market we have right now is the strongest in years, and that’s what we need for the next star to emerge.

A few weeks ago, at the annual Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago, two investing icons debated the merits of value versus growth. On the value side was Rob Arnott, founder and head of Research Affiliates, with Cathie Wood, founder and head of ARK Investment Management, on the growth side.

It’s been an eventful week in the market, as some big earnings blowups worsened the ongoing exodus from leading growth stocks and big tech names. We’ve also seen selling in small- and mid-cap stocks. As we navigate the rotation in the market, one of our positions broke down over technical weakness and we are selling 1/3 of that today.

Bitcoin and other forms of blockchain have gone mainstream. And these four cryptocurrency ETFs will help you profit from the wave.

Wondering how to get started with mutual funds? There’s something you need to know first (that we’re sure your broker won’t like).

From American Wealth Underground: “This fast-growing, small-cap company stands as one of the more unique members of China’s coal industry. ... They are bringing U.S. techniques and safety standards to a country that simply cannot continue its breakneck growth without more coal. The world’s most populous nation also ranks as its...

It pays to invest in companies that avoid taxes the way Donald Trump has for years. For evidence, look no further than P10 Holdings (PIOE).

If you look closely enough, there are signs that a bear market might not be far off. If the bull market collapses, you’ll want to own this low-risk stock.

So far, this has been a positive year for the market. But an enormous amount of uncertainty remains.

The painful high inflation/hawkish Fed conundrum that caused last year’s bear market appears to be ending. But a high risk of recession is taking over. It will be difficult for stocks to rally into the next bull market without knowing the timing, severity, or duration of a possible recession.

Inflation could remain sticky. A recession could hit in any of the next three quarters. A recovery may be lame when it finally arrives because the Fed may have to keep interest rates high. We don’t know if six months from now we will face more inflation, a recession or even stagflation.

It’s been a sideways summer market. Perhaps earnings will change that. But summer markets have a tendency to do whatever they were doing before investors stopped paying attention in the dog days of August.

In this issue I highlight a high-paying REIT that has been bucking the trend and moving higher in this market. It presents a timely buying opportunity that can create a call writing opportunity in a short amount of time.



Few income stocks have had consistent upward momentum in this market, but those that do generally fetch higher call premiums. The target buy is a fantastic REIT that pays a high dividend and continues to move higher. It should provide a great income opportunity in an otherwise lackluster summer market.

Stocks have been impressively resilient. The market handled the Iran news like a trooper. Stocks have rallied since the U.S. bombing.

It seems like the default position of investors is optimism. Stocks seem to want to go higher and only go lower when they defy gravity. The market made up the tariff panic in short order. Rates have remained stubbornly high. The news from the Middle East is wild. Yet stocks are within bad-breath distance of the all-time high.