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It looks like this relentless bull market is finally stalling out. The market isn’t correcting, or really selling off in any substantial way. It has just stopped moving higher, for now. Given the returns in the past year and recent months, the market had to take a break. That pace couldn’t last.

Stock prices may be stuck in mud for the time being, but there are some fantastic income opportunities out there. Many high-dividend stocks are still well below pre-pandemic prices and offer some of the highest yields in a decade. In this month’s issue I highlight a phenomenal stock with a sky-high yield and a price that’s trending higher.

The market remains in good health and trending higher, though as always, fine-tuning of your portfolio is required to continue to stay in the right stocks.

This week, that means selling two stocks (SLQT and VRTX), as well as upgrading one (ZM) to buy.



As for the new recommendation, it’s tailor-made for investors looking to maximize income from dividends (it pays a 7.3% yield) and get capital appreciation potential too.



Full details in the issue.

We are smack dab in the heart of earnings season for this portfolio. With the market sputtering along without much conviction, individual stocks are taking center stage, and earnings are a major part of that.

Quarterly and annual earnings will be reported this week from AbbVie Inc. (ABBV), Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE), American Tower Corporation (AMT), Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC), and Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM). The reports could be a hugely important factor in determining the near-term direction of these stocks.

Last Thursday evening, I was a guest at a friend’s regular poker game. It seemed friendly enough – the regulars were average players (like myself), pleasant to spend time with (no jerks), and the evening included a tasty dinner. Also, favorably to me as the newbie, the stakes were modest.

The games were straightforward: 5-card draw, 7-card stud high-low, while a few others included a small field of common cards similar to Texas Hold’em. Betting was reasonable, with limits on both the size and number of raises. So far, so good.

As widely reported, Jamie Dimon, the 23-year-and-counting CEO of JPMorgan and its predecessor Bank One, recently penned his annual letter to shareholders. The 43-page tome covered topics ranging from the bank’s “Steadfast Principles Worth Repeating” to “Our Serious Need for More Effective Public Policy and Competent Government” along with some impressive numbers about JPMorgan’s financial, operational and share price performance over the decades.

Each investor operates within their own time horizon. Day traders’ time horizon is the 4 p.m. ET market close, or shorter. Some traders focus on the calendar week, while most hedge fund traders have a month-end time horizon. Mutual funds focus on a quarterly or at most annual time horizon. Financial commentators have their own time horizons, as well. Bombastic TV or live-streaming pundits usually focus on very short horizons – “what has the stock done for me lately” is their mantra. The definition of “lately” can change but usually means “the past few weeks” or “since it stopped going up.”

The market is stuck in the mud. But that might be a good thing, considering that tariff uncertainty is back. This time, tariff fears are just keeping stocks from going higher and not crushing the market, so far.


The administration is currently threatening to enforce 30% tariffs on Mexico and the European Union (EU) starting on August 1. However, investors perceive a strong chance that President Trump will either back off the threat or make deals.

Cyclical stocks are soaring and technology is floundering in the transformed market.

The bull market is turned upside down. For most of the first three years, technology, and particularly AI stocks, soared while most other stocks did very little. Now, previously meandering stocks are killing it while technology sinks.

It’s the same basic market story as it has been for the last four months. Technology is floundering while other sectors are killing it. But a couple of events occurring this week could potentially change the dynamic.

Last week the S&P 500 index plunged into correction territory. The Nasdaq was already there. Has the market bottomed out or is there more downside to go?

It’s been a while since selling has gotten this ugly. The last market correction was in October of 2023. This is the second of this bull market, which began in October of 2022. That’s not unusual. Corrections are normal in a bull market. The S&P had run up about 75% in a little over two years and was due for a consolidation, especially the technology sector. But is that all this is or is it something more?

The market has been recovering since it fell into correction territory earlier this month. The S&P was up for the week last week for the first time in a month and Monday was a strong day. But we might not be out of the woods yet.

Even if the bottom is in (which it might not be), it is unlikely that stocks can generate lasting upside traction until there is more clarity on the tariff situation. But the market really hasn’t been as bad as it might seem.

It looks like the election euphoria has run out of gas. The market has digested the election and is now back to business as usual.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost ground for nine consecutive sessions. Most of the S&P 500 sectors have been down over the past month. Of course, the S&P is still within a whisker of the high. It hasn’t pulled back. But it hasn’t gone up in a while either.

The wild ride continues. After a crazy first few weeks of April, this week has continued in the same vein, with a big down day on Monday and a big up day on Tuesday. This might last a while longer.

It’s been a tough market. The S&P started this week down about 6% for the month of April, over 10% YTD, and over 14% from the high. And that was before Monday’s selloff. It is entirely possible that the market falls back to a new low and an official bear market.

The market just had a big leg higher. Last Friday the S&P 500 concluded an epic nine-day run of positive gains, the longest such streak in more than 20 years. The index rose by more than 10% during the streak. What’s going on?