Search

Explorer stocks held up pretty well during this turbulent week as almost all were steady or up, with Chile’s SQM up five points. Stocks stabilized yesterday after a sharp pullback on Tuesday. While prices of gasoline are down, prices of most of other things like food, rent, and medical care are still rising. This week we dive into semiconductor stocks with a return to Taiwan for a new recommendation.

As we wrote in last week’s issue, we started to see some extremes out there when it comes to selling pressure, with a few different breadth-related measures nearly reaching levels seen at prior major lows of the past decade. And the major indexes did mostly hold their Monday lows for the rest of the week, even flashing an encouraging turnaround on Friday with a couple of minor positive divergences, before today’s pop higher. The question is how far this nascent bounce can go--so far the Nasdaq has bounced about 1,000 points after declining 3,100, and up action has been limited to just a day or so before the sellers are back at it. That can always change, of course—in fact, we think the odds are decent that it will—but our point is that the onus remains on the buyers to continue to step up to form a workable low the market can build from. In the meantime, we’re sticking with the same cautious stance, holding plenty of cash and keeping new positions small.



This week’s list is actually fairly mixed between sectors, with some commodities, some biotechs and some earnings winners. Given the environment, our Top Pick is Corning (GLW), which isn’t their fastest horse, but it has a solid business and a very good chart, having just enjoyed a nice buying cluster after earnings.

The bull market keeps rolling along, though both the Fed and a busy, star-studded earnings slate could provide a couple speed bumps this week. Still, I wouldn’t bet against this market right now, at least not in the intermediate or long term, so today we’re adding another high-upside pick. It’s a mid-cap software stock that’s trading well below its post-IPO highs, but that has built up a full head of steam the last two-plus months. It’s a new addition from Cabot Early Opportunities Chief Analyst Tyler Laundon.

Details inside.

We remain mostly bullish—our Market Monitor is currently at a level 7 (out of 10), and we could push it a notch higher depending on how things go today and Monday. Thus, you should be heavily invested. But we’ll wait for some decisive strength to floor the accelerator.

The market has acted well since its Monday morning shakeout—that dip pushed the S&P 500 and other indexes below their 50-day lines, and even had the S&P 600 SmallCap kissing 16 week lows, but buyers stepped in and have generally driven prices higher since.

When Warren Buffett talks, it’s time to listen. So with Berkshire investing in solar companies, it’s time to look at these clean energy ETFs.

While the big-cap indexes were acting fine, we had been writing about an increasing number of yellow flags out there—it started with secondary measures like sentiment (which got buoyant in the weeks after the election), and early last week, we saw the first signs that some key leading stocks were coming under pressure. Indeed, we came into this week with our Market Monitor down to a level 6.

2024 has been a banner year for the market, especially when it comes to tech stocks, and these are the best-performing large-cap stocks this year.

The “Great Consolidation,” a multi-industry, multi-decade trend of mergers and acquisitions, is poised to continue fueling inflation. Here’s how to play it.

China and the U.S. are going toe to toe at the Winter Olympics. It’s a microcosm for their global tilt, with high stakes for your portfolio.

With the election nearly on top of us, ideas for investing based on the outcome are everywhere. Many anticipate that a Romney presidency would mean a stronger dollar, falling bond prices, lower commodity prices, higher defense spending and either weakness in financial stocks (because of higher interest rates) or strength in...

Cryptocurrencies have lost two-thirds of their value in the last year; it’s not the first time that has happened and may not be the last. If you’re looking for a long-term play, consider this LEAPS options trade.

To identify great companies, there are a number of key factors you need to look for as an investor. Here are five that always catch my eye.

The newly named Nikola stock is gaining momentum from its new electric-charged Nikola Badger truck. Can it challenge Tesla?

There are a lot of “can’t miss” investments out there that miss. So let me keep things simple for you: try this China ETF.

The end of a year is a great opportunity to make a New Year’s Resolution to be a better investor. The question is: what should you resolve? The experience of people who vow to lose weight or stop smoking or learn Chinese should give you a little guidance here. Huge resolutions often lead to huge failures.

Occasionally, we bring you articles from outside sources that we think you will be interested in and benefit from. Today, we have an article from StreetAuthority’s Stock of the Month editor Amy Calistri.

The news media continues to whip investors into a frenzy over the direction of interest rates. Depending on where you look, you can find knowledgeable financial pundits making the case for steady, unchanging interest rates or for the Fed to lower the fed funds rate in July.

Cannabis stocks have fallen sharply since the beginning of April. The AdvisorShares Pure U.S. Cannabis (MSOS) is down 15.4% since April 1. There are two reasons.

First, investor enthusiasm for stocks overall has waned, creating significant declines across indices. Because cannabis is perceived as a riskier sector, cannabis stocks decline more than most stocks when investors move into risk-off mode.

Second, many analysts and investors had hoped for visible progress on key catalysts by now – chiefly rescheduling and cannabis banking reform. They have been disappointed.