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It’s not 2022 or 2008, of course, but the vast majority of stocks out there are in correction mode, and that includes the growth arena, which after a huge run began to hit turbulence in early December and has generally been under pressure since. Now, there are some rays of light out there, which we discuss in this issue, and we’re not having trouble keeping a full-ish watch list for the next upmove, but we’ve been favoring a cautious stance for a while now and think that remains the right move, as we’ve trimmed further this week and now have 60% on the sideline.

In tonight’s issue, we do write about one big positive factor out there (no strength in defensive stocks), talk about the allure of buying former winners “cheap” and, of course, write about all of our names and a bunch we’re watching for when the buyers retake control.

Here are my top eight predictions for the cannabis sector for 2025.

1. Cannabis rescheduling goes through

Promises made, promises kept. Trump loves a “deep state” challenge. Put these two together, and it seems probable that rescheduling could happen in 2025.

With the calendar flipping to 2025 and the long holiday weeks/weekends behind us, most traders will be back at their desks starting yesterday. Let the fun begin!

Enovix (ENVX) Pops After Achieving Milestones

The year started out pretty well over the first two days (last week), but this week has been more of a downer, with the major indexes down a bit and with some leading growth stocks again coming under pressure. Going into Friday, most major indexes reversed early-week gains and are down 0.5% to 1% on the week and that doesn’t include what looks like a morning gap down following this morning’s jobs report.

2024 was a rough year for cannabis investors, but 2025 could be much better. Here are my top eight predictions for the cannabis sector for the year ahead.

Market breadth is a good gauge of the health of the bull market, but these three risk-on sectors will tell you whether the “animal spirits” are alive and well.

Beginning next week, Smart Investing in Turbulent Times will receive a new name: Cabot Undervalued Stocks Advisor. But don’t worry! Everything below the title remains the same. All of the portfolio stocks will remain intact, with weekly updates on excellent value stock opportunities. In today’s Update, there are a few noteworthy portfolio stock news items.

Housing sector stocks—including homebuilders, raw materials, and appliances—look stronger right now than any other major industry group. Their charts are bullish, with many of them showing signs of near-term upside breakouts. In that light, I’m expecting good things from Boise Cascade (BCC), D.R. Horton (DHI), Vulcan Materials (VMC) and Whirlpool (WHR) this month.

Most stocks in our portfolios were the subject of research articles from high-profile financial media outlets, this past week: Forbes, Barron’s, TheStreet and others. We have one dividend increase today: Carnival Corp. (CCL), and I’m lowering the rating on Federated Investors (FII) to Hold.

The Cabot Emerging Markets Timer is flashing a warning signal, and even good earnings results are no guarantee of big advances. We are trimming the portfolio by selling Sibanye Gold and dropping YY Inc.

Toll Brothers (TOL) reported earnings blowout and the stock is rising; maintain Buy. BorgWarner (BWA) stock is rising; rating change to Hold. Also, brief notes on Applied Materials (AMAT), Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Big Lots (BIG) and Tesoro (TSO).

Today, I’m changing the rating on many Smart Investing stocks to Hold. These rating changes are only about share price. Other than Axiall, none of these stocks are experiencing earnings downgrades or corporate troubles. They are all undervalued growth stocks.

We’re switching Target (TGT) and ConEd (ED) from Buy to Hold today. The rest of our ratings remain unchanged.

We have no rating changes today; I continue to recommend you focus on what’s working, while keeping your personal investing goals in mind. The healthiest stocks in our portfolio today are the financials, Prudential (PRU) and US Bancorp (USB), dividend growth tier holding Carnival (CCL) and safe income tier recommendations Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and UPS (UPS).

Cabot’s intermediate-term market timing indicators are now on the fence, and I recommend holding off on significant new buying for now, unless you’re substantially underinvested. We’re not selling anything today, but I am putting Xcel Energy (XEL) on Hold.

Given the generally improving health of the broad market, I’m putting General Motors (GM) and CVS Health (CVS) back on Buy today. We have no other changes to the portfolio.

Today I’m putting CVS Health (CVS) and Home Depot (HD) on Hold because of the broad market, taking profits in half of our Costco (COST) position and selling half of Novo Nordisk (NVO) with plans to unload the rest in the coming days.