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It’s time to do some more buying. Our Cabot Tides has flashed a new buy signal, and while the near term could easily see some retrenchment, the evidence is building that the worst of the market’s downturn is over and that another bull phase could be starting. We are adding one new position and buying the remaining half (to make them full positions) of two other positions.

It’s been yet another constructive week for the market—four in a row by our count. As of mid-morning Friday, the S&P 500 is sitting on a gain of 2.6% for the week, while the Nasdaq is up 2.7%.

Crista is retiring a stock from the Buy Low Opportunities Portfolio.

Remain defensive. Stocks are finally mustering a bounce today, though after the market’s meltdown of recent weeks, the intermediate- and longer-term trends remain firmly down.

Stocks in the marijuana sector are off to a flying start this year.

The weakness that was troubling the market before last Wednesday’s unanticipated holiday worsened when markets opened again Thursday, and the major indexes are back at their correction lows. I was optimistic when the market strengthened two weeks ago, for now it’s time to stay defensive. That means selling half of one our holdings. But on a positive note, some sectors are still working well, and I’m moving both our REITs back to Buy.

We’ve held on to quarter-sized stakes in a few positions in the event that the market firms up and turns north. That hasn’t happened, so it’s time to step completely aside from two stocks in the portfolio.

The market appears to have firmed up a little over the last week.

Down markets are a fact of life in investing. Don’t fear them. Embrace them. They offer short term angst and long term bliss for those bold enough to take advantage. With today’s update, just one rating change but overall we’re in good shape.

The market was brutalized again today, with another avalanche of selling after yesterday’s disappointing Fed rate hike and press conference. One of our positions fell through support and it’s time to sell. This leaves use with two positions and 84% in cash in the model portfolio.

As for the market, it’s been another dreadful week. Blame it on the Federal Reserve if you want, but whatever the reason, the fact is the sellers remain in control and the trends are pointed down. As we write this, the S&P 500 is down a huge 4.9% this week alone, while the Nasdaq is off 5.5% since last Friday’s close.

After a terrible couple of months, we finally got some legitimate good news this week—our intermediate-term trend model flashed a green light on Thursday, telling us the intermediate-term trend for the major indexes is turning up.

This has been one of the wilder weeks we can remember, with huge swings up (Monday), down (Tuesday), reversals (Thursday) and big overnight movements (last night and this morning).

Trade war uncertainties have nipped our young buy signal in the bud, but the situation is highly fluid, so we’ll be making portfolio choices on a stock-by-stock basis.

The usual suspects—trade war, Brexit and the Fed—continue to dog the market, and the situation for emerging market stocks has worsened.

As we finish 2018, let’s recap some timely investing and economic topics.

One big picture thing worth mentioning: We’ve all seen various data points about just how bad this market is and how it’s “the worst” in this dimension or that. All of this stuff is just saying what we know—the market stinks and is breaking a bunch of undesirable records.

The undercurrents we felt in the market last week bubbled to the surface this week as value-oriented sectors opened a modest performance gap as compared to growth-oriented sectors.

Despite a modest dip yesterday the market generally looks healthy, with the S&P 500 finally breaking out to a new high this week, the NASDAQ trading above 8,000, and the S&P 600 Small Cap Index continuing to trade right up at all-time highs. This index is up 17% year-to-date and more than 30% over the last 12 months!