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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.

At the beginning of the year, I wrote an Investment of the Week focused on possible trends for 2012 (read the whole issue here). One of the sectors that looked promising at the time was housing. I wrote, “Stocks of companies that are finding success in the new, smaller...

My investment strategy is to use a thematic approach, which allows me to invest in stocks much earlier than institutional investors.

Timber has long been the perfect inflation hedge. With inflation fears roiling markets, these three timber stocks should do the trick.

If you’re looking to minimize expenses in your portfolio, ETFs can offer a low-cost alternative to your mutual fund holdings.

Visiting the beautiful little city of Boulder, Colorado recently, my wife and I stumbled on an extravagant little house.

What do you do when a stock changes character? Specifically, how do you handle it when a stock you’ve known as a growth stock may have turned into an income stock?

As for the market, it was definitely a constructive week, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq leaping more than 10% in just four days. At yesterday’s peak, both major indexes had recouped just about half of their crash declines.

The major indexes have had another quiet week, with the S&P 500 up a smidge for the week as we write this, while the Nasdaq is up around 0.8%.

It’s been a low-volume but fruitful week for the market, with the S&P 500 (up about 0.8% on the week) and Nasdaq (up around 2%) both hitting all-time highs, along with a handful of other indexes.

We have seen some improvement in the evidence during the past couple of weeks, which is encouraging. But we can’t say the stars are all aligned either. Thus, you should just take it as it comes—right now, we advise a defensive stance, though if the intermediate-term trend turns up, we’ll slowly come off the sideline and see if the rally gains traction.

With the market down more than 30% since it peaked a month ago, it’s worth reviewing the reasons for the quick crash.

The market continues to stumble sideways. On the one hand, the S&P 500 is within a whisker of the all-time high. On the other hand, stocks have been going sideways for about a month.

The second quarter ends today. GDP growth is forecasted to be 8.6% for the quarter, one of the best on record. Earnings for the S&P 500 is expected to grow over 60% over last year’s second quarter.

Sideways is a good thing. The market had a huge recovery from the pandemic and really soared between November and May. After such a rapid move higher in a short amount of time, a correction would be normal.

This is, dare I say, a good market.

The S&P 500 is up 11.31% YTD, and the year isn’t even half over. Stocks have rallied more than 20% from the October low. The index is within bad breath distance of last summer’s high. The S&P is only 10% below the all-time high.

Why is the market so strong? There are several reasons. Inflation is coming down. The Fed is almost done hiking rates. And there is no recession. Throw in a booming artificial intelligence business and you have a rising market.

A big week in the market has started badly. The failure of First Republic Bank (FRC) and fears of further fallout have sent stocks reeling ahead of more news the market may not like later this week.


The market moved on from the banking crisis. But it is rearing its ugly head again. There is now worry of more bank failures and an escalating crisis. More small regional banks could fail. But the situation is still unlikely to devolve into a major crisis, at least at this point.

Beginning on a positive note, I’d like to remind you of the power of compounding returns when you stay in the stock market over time. For example, $100 invested in three-month Treasury bills in 1928 grew to only $2,141 by the end of last year while it became $46,379 invested in medium-grade corporate bonds and a stunning $624,534 if invested in a broad basket of stocks, according to data from New York University finance professor Aswath Damodaran.

China’s continued economic woes took center stage globally this week, as the country’s central bank unexpectedly cut key interest rates in a bid to spur economic growth, manage high debt in the property sector, and lower its 20% youth unemployment rate. An index of Chinese stocks traded in Hong Kong has fallen more than 9% this month.

Today’s recommendation is a classic steelmaker that has great growth prospects as the U.S. economy speeds along and protectionist measures improve our country’s competitive position. Also, the stock is cheap, so downside risk is limited.