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It’s still a narrow rally at this point, but we are seeing more names begin to pop higher, whether on earnings or some other news, with some shakeouts-and-recoveries, some earnings gaps that see immediate follow-through and more names setting up. (We don’t hate the selloff in defensive stocks, either.) It’s not definitive yet, but we will nudge the Market Monitor up to a level 5 and see how it goes.

Growth names make another good showing this week, with a variety of sectors (outside of retail, which has been rough) represented. Our Top Pick is a big-cap chip name that has stormed back after a spring correction.

This year, individual stock performance has largely been driven by a single narrative: how well the underlying companies are positioned for a pandemic-striken world. Those with strong digital-economy businesses have surged, while those with physical-economy businesses have stalled, or worse.

In this issue we recommend a life insurance stock and talk about Dow laggards with rebound potential.

The market remains strong and cohesive and thus I remain bullish. However, numerous indications remind me that the market is overdue to deliver a painful shock to investors, so today I’m leaning back to the conservative side, recommending a dividend-paying stock that has solid long-term prospects and minimal downside risk.

We comment on earnings from several recommended companies. Also, we raise our price targets for three stocks that have moved above our existing price targets. And, rooting for the turnaround Cincinnati Bengals.

Explorer stocks had a mixed week due to weaker market and some profit taking as SQM reported another strong quarter with earnings up 857% year-over-year. Positive second-quarter corporate earnings reports and the flattening of still-high inflation seemed to settle investor nerves and despite this week’s pullback, the S&P is up 17% from its June lows. This week we go to a big resource play on a strategic growth trend that is powered by Dr. Copper.

Although markets have stumbled a bit out of the gate, investors looking to see the S&P 500 build on the 11% advance in the final quarter of 2023 may not have long to wait. U.S. companies are due to start reporting results next week, with the big banks leading the way.

An election year like 2024 with a sitting president running is historically a bullish scenario for U.S. stocks. Since 1949, the S&P 500 is averaging a gain of nearly 13% in those election years, per the Stock Trader’s Almanac.

So let’s kick off the year by adding another aggressive growth stock.

The market’s main trends remain up, and thus I remain bullish, while continuing to remind you that a balanced portfolio with attention to risk management is always smart.

In this issue I identify a fast-growing biopharmaceutical company that will benefit as the changing population demands better healthcare than ever before. It is well established with a high dividend yield and poised in front of the wave at the cutting edge of medical innovation.

The market strength of the past week has turned our intermediate-term market timing indicator positive once again, so it’s a good time to buy, especially if you focus on the leaders, like this week’s recommended stock, which has a novel and effective treatment for cancer.

As for our current holdings, some are hitting new highs today, while some have taken a hit, as investors sell stocks (like Zoom) that benefitted from the pandemic. But one day does not a trend make; we’re selling nothing today.

The market keeps improving but is not necessarily back to 2021 or even June and July 2023 levels just yet, as many individual stocks are stuck in neutral. Fortunately, that’s not the case in the Stock of the Week portfolio, as eight of our holdings are hitting either 52-week or all-time highs! Today, we try and strike while the iron is hot – or at least warming – by adding a familiar growth stock that was a market darling during Covid, had a very rough 2022, but has now gotten the attention of Mike Cintolo in Cabot Top Ten Trader after a major gap up at the end of October.

Details inside.

Stocks continue to chug along in the same range they’ve largely been in since the end of March. We’ll see if this week’s inflation reports (CPI on Wednesday, PPI on Thursday) move the needle in either direction. In the meantime, one sector that is finally showing signs of life after two years of being beaten to a pulp is cannabis. And so today, we add one of the top cannabis stocks recommended by Cabot Cannabis Investor Chief Analyst Michael Brush. It’s a familiar name to even intermediate-term Stock of the Week readers – and it was up 25% last week!

Details inside.

Here is how you can reduce your tax liabilities at the end of the year—some you will know about, and some you may not be familiar with.

Today, savvy investors are working to find “the next Apple” because that’s where the real growth potential lies.

With plenty of potential potholes threatening the stock market, some defensive stocks make sense. Here’s one defensive small-cap growth stock to consider.

There are some very convincing signs that Chinese stocks are about to turn around in a massive way.