Search

The Federal Reserve is expected to lower interest rates this week, with a likely announcement on July 31. The stock market has fully priced in a rate reduction, which means if the Fed fails to lower rates, investors can expect the market to fall for a few days.

Cannabis stocks have retreated from recent highs in the rally sparked by news that the government may reschedule marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act.

Retraces are perfectly normal after big moves. Many traders typically expect a 33% give-back.

The key question is whether the pullback is buyable. I say yes, for two reasons – one fundamental (catalysts, below) and one technical. Let’s start with the technical factor.

The Fed raised benchmark interest rates a half a point and signaled more to come. Elsewhere, scientists studying fusion energy at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have crossed a huge milestone in reproducing the power of the sun in a laboratory. Explorer positions showed relative strength, led again by Kraken (KRNKF). Today we go to Britain for a historic and strategically important company, brand, and stock selling for a bit over $1 a share.

Back on December 27 I suggested holding off on cannabis sector purchases given the group strength at the time. We had realized nice gains, and it did not make sense to chase the stocks. “I prefer to add on weakness rather than strength,” I wrote. I recommended adding on weakness of 2% to 4% or more in any of our portfolio names.

The AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis (MSOS) and AdvisorShares MSOS 2X Daily (MSOX) exchange traded funds (ETFs) closed that day at 6.93 and 3.60, respectively, and went on to fall 4.5% to 9% over the next few trading days.

The good year is continuing. The market rally is broadening. And pundits increasingly have positive things to say about the second half of the year.


Artificial intelligence isn’t the only mania capturing the imagination of investors. The soft-landing belief is also widespread. Investors see inflation falling fast, the Fed nearly done hiking rates, and no recession. It looks like we can get through this rate hiking cycle, the steepest in decades, without much economic pain.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell again threw a wrench into the market by warning that a couple of more interest rates hikes are probable this year. “The process of getting inflation down to 2% has a long way to go,” he told the House Financial Services Committee during a three-hour hearing. Not sure why they don’t get this over with.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in America on his first official state visit with India’s geopolitical pull higher than at any point since he took power in 2014.

Chief Analyst Roy Ward applies these six yardsticks, or price multiples, to help him find undervalued companies: P/BV, P/CF, P/D, P/E, P/S and PEG ratios.

I don’t have a sense that the current market correction will last very long. I am comfortable buying now, as opposed to waiting a few weeks, as I did in the early 2016 market correction. I have two rating changes today: Johnson Controls (JCI) moves from Hold to Buy, and Robert Half (RHI) moves from Buy to Hold.

This week we had three of our stocks report, and we become incrementally more defensive. Two stocks are moved to Sell. Two more are moved to Hold.

With the market near record highs, many stocks are trading well above the $1,000/share price level. Investors tend to dismiss stocks with basement-level prices, so we explored this maligned group in search of neglected value.

In this issue, we look at the several of our recommended stocks in this range.

Like most consumer industries, residential housing construction is declining sharply in the wake of the Covid-19 shutdown. The industry’s recovery, which was accelerating at the beginning of the year, is now reversing rapidly.

In this issue, we review five homebuilders whose valuations appear to overly discount the industry’s recovery prospects.

Micro-cap stocks are my bread and butter, and these are the 3 micro-cap stocks I like best today.