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Politicians in Washington, D.C. let cannabis investors down once again.

Commentary from lobbyists and Senators had suggested the Senate banking committee might make progress on cannabis sector banking reform (allowing banks to work with companies) in late July.

That turned out not to be the case. I cautioned at the time that a risk here is that the actions of politicians are hard to predict. But it was worth having exposure, in case there actually was progress on so-called SAFE banking, which seemed possible at the time.

The fourth company on my list of stocks that share growth and value characteristics is Gilead Sciences.

The market has been doing OK, though it’s more about addition by subtraction—the fact that growth stocks have avoided any major selling wave after the recent upmove is a plus, but we’re still seeing lots of selling on strength and rotational action that changes by the day.

As Warren Buffett said, “Long ago, Ben Graham taught me that ‘Price is what you pay; value is what you get.’ Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.” Two stocks that I think Mr. Buffett should own are Johnson Controls and Whirlpool.

The market continues to be a bit sketchy, and the S&P 600 Small Cap Index is still trading right around the 820 level, which has served as a rough support line thus far this year.

Our Two-Second Indicator remains negative, our Cabot Tides are now on the fence, and the breadth-related yellow flags have led to some strong selling this week. Short-term, it’s best to pare back on any stocks that break down; longer-term, though, we remain optimistic.

Trim your sails a bit and see how the market handles itself going forward. Today’s whopping decline isn’t the end of the world for growth stocks, but the broad market is more worrisome, with the Cabot Tides now neutral and our Two-Second Indicator turning negative.

Apple (AAPL), Baidu (BIDU), Google (GOOG) and Netflix (NFLX) are overviewed by the editor.

The holiday-shortened week was mostly a non-event as the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq were mostly mixed. And while the week was quiet, under the surface there was selling pressure in growth stocks and materials that raised some yellow flags.

The holiday-shortened week was mostly a non-event as the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq were mostly mixed. And while the week was quiet, under the surface there was selling pressure in growth stocks and materials that raised some yellow flags.

The market continues to act “fine” as we get a little deeper into earnings season this week.

At the index level, small-cap stocks are unremarkable. But I continue to attribute the underperformance to the high weight of rate-sensitive sectors (financials, energy, industrials, materials).

Markets pulled it together last week, with oversold financial and consumer stocks finding support and delivering gains for the holiday-shortened week. However, the market started this week with another sharp pullback Monday, bringing the Dow and S&P 500 back to their February lows. And markets look set to open lower today after China announced a slew of retaliatory 25% tariffs on U.S. exports. A rebound later this week is likely, but not certain.

In the March Issue of Cabot Early Opportunities we take a look at what’s been unfolding in the financial system and consider implications for the FOMC’s meeting and subsequent rate hike decision next week.

Suffice to say, buying a bunch of stocks into the current uncertainty doesn’t seem like the best idea. We’ll add a few partial positions, but the bulk of this month’s new ideas are going on our Watch List.

We’ll take things as they come and consider plucking names off this list as things develop.

Never a dull moment!