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Interest rates are heading higher.

In normal and efficient markets, a strong economy and steeply rising prices would drive interest rates much higher. But rates have been held down and distorted by the Fed’s hyper-aggressive accommodation.



The Fed dismissed inflation in the early stages as “transitory” and now realizes it missed the boat and inflation is getting out of hand. Behind the curve and embarrassed, the Central Bankers will have to make up for lost time by reversing course, ending its bond buying program and raising the Fed Funds rate.



The main force preventing economic growth and rising prices from pushing interest rates higher is about to be removed, and perhaps quickly. Under the circumstances, it is quite reasonable to expect interest rates to move higher.



In this issue, I highlight an investment in the financial sector. Many companies in the sector benefit from higher rates as they earn higher spreads and profits. This company stands to benefit not only from higher interest rates but a change in consumer behavior as well.

Last week, Jim Cramer did a TV segment on “broken companies” vs. “broken stocks.” His point bears repeating.

Just when you start to think this coronavirus crash will never end—it will. And our goal is to have a portfolio of healthy stocks when that day arrives. In the meantime, our selling has increased our cash position significantly—and there are two more recommended sales today.

As for new buying—there aren’t a lot of healthy stocks to choose from, regardless of whether you’re looking for low-risk or high-risk, but one that stands out is today’s recommendation, which benefits from the booming growth in working-from-home (WFH).



Full details in the issue.

The market was up big today, and a couple of our stocks hit new highs—which is impressive considering the recent crash—but the market’s major pattern is one of bottom-building, and that takes time.
In the meantime, the action of the best growth stocks gives us a clue as to developing leadership, and the best value stocks are absurdly cheap. Plus, many are paying huge dividends! That’s the case with today’s recommendation, a giant in the oil industry.


As for the rest of the portfolio, it’s acting well (with a couple of very strong stocks in the mix), and thus I have no changes today.


Full details in the issue.

The long-awaited market correction has finally begun, and while you may be tempted to tie the correction to fundamental events, I don’t find any value in that—because all that news is public information so it has no real value to us. Instead, I prefer to watch the action of the stocks carefully, to judge where the money is flowing. And the result of my observations today is that we will sell four stocks and downgrade another to hold—and then continue watching.

As for this week’s recommendation, it’s a high-potential little medical stock that most investors haven’t heard of. It’s not for everyone, but it does provide diversity to our portfolio and it may be perfect for yours.



Details in the issue.

The market has snapped back in a surprisingly strong fashion, but breadth has narrowed, so I’m still suspicious of this rebound. However, there are still plenty of great charts as well as stories to go along with them, and today’s recommendation is one of them. In fact, you may even be a user of the company’s products!

As for the current portfolio, there are no changes today.

Details in the issue.

The market was just beginning to turn the corner last week before sellers re-appeared Thursday and especially Friday, driving the major indexes back toward their January lows. Thus, from a top-down perspective, you should respect the bears, which is why our Market Monitor above is again tilted toward the bearish side. On a sector-by-sector basis, however, many stocks are working – mainly oil, gas and gold, though coal stocks are also a bastion of accumulation these days. Right now, these inflation-related plays are just about the only game in town; how long it lasts, nobody knows, but that’s where you should focus your attention, if anywhere. This week’s Top Ten is once again heavy in these strong areas, with our favorite of the week being Goldcorp (GG), which has staged a good-looking breakout on healthy volume. You could buy a little on any weakness, while placing a relatively tight stop under 39, leaving a good risk-reward ratio.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
CLF (CLF)	0.00	105-115	-
COG (COG)	0.00	42-48	-
CTRP (CTRP)	0.00	55-62	-
EOG (EOG)	0.00	108-117	-
FCN (FCN)	0.00	59-62	-
GFA (GFA)	0.00	34-41	-
GG (GG)	0.00	39 1/2 - 42	-
NFLX (NFLX)	0.00	30-32	-
PAAS (PAAS)	0.00	36-40	-
XEC (XEC)	0.00	48-51	-

Overall, we continue to see many signs that the market is transitioning from a bear phase to a bullish phase—sentiment is horrid, stocks have refused to break down on the worst of news (i.e., Bear Stearns) and the indexes have held above support for many weeks. However, when it comes to buying individual stocks, there are few options—steel and some oil stocks remain in favor, but for every stock that pops its head up, there seems to be another that gets slapped down. Bottom line, it’s still not a time for aggressive buying, but picking up a few shares of potential leaders during pullbacks can still work out. Just don’t go overboard! This week’s Top Ten is commodity-heavy, with a few growth-oriented names sprinkled in. Our favorite of the week is Comstock Resources (CRK), which staged a good-looking breakout last week. We think you can pick up a few shares on weakness.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
CLF (CLF)	0.00	110-125	-
CLR (CLR)	0.00	29-33	-
CRK (CRK)	0.00	35-39	-
ILMN (ILMN)	0.00	68-74	-
MT (MT)	0.00	79-83	-
OI (OI)	0.00	53-56	-
PQ (PQ)	0.00	15-17	-
RIMM (RIMM)	0.00	130-140	-
STLD (STLD)	0.00	31 1/2 - 34 1/2	-
TNE (TNE)	0.00	21-25	-

This note includes our review of earnings from Berkshire Hathaway (BRK/B), Elanco Animal Health (ELAN), ESAB Corporation (ESAB), TreeHouse Foods (THS), Viatris (VTRS), Vodafone (VOD) and ZimVie (ZIMV).

There were no ratings changes or price target changes this week.

This week, we comment on earnings from Janus Henderson Group (JHG), Meta Platforms (META), M/I Homes (MHO), Polaris Industries (PII), Vodafone (VOD) and Western Digital (WDC).


Next week brings earnings from Western Union (WU), Mattel (MAT), Brookfield Re (BANR), Goodyear Tire (GT) and Newell Brands (NWL).

How many stocks is the right number of stocks? I’ve been pondering this question recently, for a couple reasons. Reason number one: Every weekend, Cabot Wealth Advisory Editor Paul Goodwin sends out a “Fortune Cookie,” in which he picks an investing-related quotation to comment on. Here’s this weekend’s quote: Paul...

Aside from Sea (SE), which zoomed from 80 to 88 this past week, Explorer stocks were largely flat, which to some these days is a good week. This week we look at the history of market pullbacks and some encouraging analysis on bounce-backs and trade before getting to a new recommendation from Shanghai.

The 5G technology revolution is almost here. And that means it’s time to add these three wireless stocks to your portfolio.

As you can tell by glancing at the portfolio summary table at the bottom of this update, the market is healthy. I’m putting two stocks back on Buy today.

The stock market remains hot, and while a pullback is always possible, the trend is firmly up. A lot of stocks are overextended short-term though, including some in our portfolio, so don’t be afraid to take partial profits where you have them, and be selective on the buy side.

Small-cap discretionary, energy, financials, industrials, technology and materials are all moving higher. That’s a healthy mix, and it’s helped push the S&P 600 Small Cap Index back up near overhead resistance.

The market has been in something of a takeoff or lockout rally, but near-term, we’re finally seeing some profit taking set in; coming into today, the Nasdaq was 9% above its 50-day line, so some wobbles are to be expected. Even so, we’re not changing our advice any at this point—we like to play the odds, and right now the odds favor (a) near-term trickiness but also (b) that pullbacks should generally lead to higher prices. We’ll leave our Market Monitor at a level 7 and see how it goes.

While growth could be set for a dip, the broadening of the rally is seeing more non-growth names actually show strength. Our Top Pick is one of many cyclical-type stocks that, after a big hiccup in March with the banking worries, has come alive amidst a vacuum of selling pressure. Dips of a couple of points would be tempting.