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Insider selling has become an epidemic of late. Does that mean that market is about to implode? Not necessarily. There are many kinds of insider selling.

The stock market today looks way more frightening than it did a week ago. Here’s what our Cabot analysts suggest you do to navigate all the landmines.

As the coronavirus plagues China, Apple’s iPhone and AirPod production is at risk - and so is Apple stock. Rare earth stocks are the best way to hedge it.

The trade war is hurting many sectors, especially overseas. But U.S. steelmakers are benefitting from the tariffs, and one steel stock looks quite ripe.

Al Frank’s Prudent Speculator has been the best undervalued stock newsletter over the past 40 years. In the last 20 years, my newsletter has beaten it.

Top forever stock #8 in my 10-part series on forever stocks is one some people are calling the Netflix of China. And it just came public this year.

The retail landscape is changing drastically, with many traditional retailers shuttering. But there are plenty of retail stocks thriving.

It took a while, but investors are finally returning to the market months into this post-election rally. And one mid-cap stock in particular should benefit.

Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent Holdings - a.k.a. the BAT stocks - have suffered from the trade war-fueled downturn in Chinese stocks. But the tide is turning.

Looking for a safe haven outside U.S. borders as the trade war rages? Try Switzerland. These Swiss stocks are especially reliable.

In general, you should work to hold your best-performing stocks as long as they continue to perform well, while getting rid of your worst performers, continually upgrading your portfolio so that it is always composed of healthy stocks with good prospects for advancement. In practice, this means you should watch their charts, and that, of course, is where it can get complicated.

Taking control of your financial life can be very rewarding, if you’re willing to take the responsibility for your own investments. You can make great strides, and at the very least you won’t be just another passenger on a boat that’s being steered toward the falls by a captain you don’t even know. So, resolve to pay the investment charges and management fees to yourself and steer your own course. If you decide to do this, it takes time and effort. You need to do your homework, and it’s good to have an ally in the process.

A lot has been written in previous Cabot Wealth Advisories about how to pick a growth stock. The advice from my fellow Cabot colleagues is sound and, when followed, will lead to exceptional returns. The editors of the growth-oriented Cabot letters know their stuff, and can produce performance numbers that prove it. But I like value stocks, and I believe that value stocks should be included in your portfolio. In my opinion, your portfolio should contain half value stocks and half growth stocks and should not contain 100% value or 100% growth stocks. Value investing, perhaps more than any other type of investing, is more concerned with the fundamentals of a company’s business rather than its stock price or market factors affecting its price.

I’m not sure where the term “harder to find than a needle in a haystack” first originated, or why anyone would look there in the first place. But that’s what it must feel like for frustrated investors in search of that rare company unscathed by this vicious economic downturn. So imagine my surprise when I recently uncovered a tenacious little company whose earnings climbed for the 10th straight year in 2008--a whopping +50% increase at that. What if I told you it was actually a savings and loan that specializes in mortgage lending? Sometimes truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

Chevron Chairman and CEO David O’Reilly spoke about the need for energy security and alternative energy at the recent Chief Executives’ Club of Boston meeting. So clearly, with even Big Oil conceding the pressing need for alternative energies to be in the mix, the future market for Green technologies is huge. How much does Chevron believe this? It’s now the largest non-public utility producer of geothermal energy in the world and is one of the largest installers of solar panels in the United States. Even Big Oil is going Green.

Most of the market’s biggest winners get going in a real powerful way four to six weeks (a couple of weeks for a buy signal ... plus another two to four weeks after that) after the market has bottomed. Many times, the investor who rushes to be the first to buy after the market bottom will miss out on the real leaders, instead buying what he thinks are the real leaders. That’s why, in the stock market as in life, patience is a virtue.

When it comes to market timing, I prefer to keep it simple, and that’s exactly what my Letters do. For the most part, my timing is based on two things--the trend of the overall market, and the action of leading stocks. However, there is one category of indicators that I do track ... though they generally give signals only every few years! Thus, you can’t use these indicators to tell you when to get in or out of the market, and they’re unlikely to be much benefit in your daily investing routine. So why follow them? Because when they do flash green lights, it tells you something unusual is happening--something unusually bullish!

The #1 request Cabot has had over the years has been to find great stocks sooner and with our publication Cabot Small-Cap Confidential, we’re able to do that. Cabot Small-Cap Confidential, a limited subscription newsletter, focuses on finding undervalued and little-known small-cap companies that are poised to break out in a big way. Or, I should say, the publication’s analyst and editor, Thomas E. Garrity, is able to find winning stocks sooner. His long career and varied experiences taught Tom to make investments only when the potential rewards outweigh the risks. He applies this philosophy to every stock he recommends in Cabot Small-Cap Confidential.

Stocks don’t know you own them. That’s the standard reply to anyone who’s feeling paranoid because a stock they bought immediately fell on its nose. Similarly, the sports team you’re watching on television doesn’t know when you leave the room, turn your hat around in “rally cap” position, or give the evil eye to the shooter, kicker or passer. At least that’s what they tell me. The truth is, though, that while the stock may not know you’ve bought it, the stock market does. Or, rather, the market knows when a bunch of people have bought a stock because the chart reflects the rising tide of buyers.

Back on Monday, I tackled the big challenge of our healthcare system once again, beginning with a few personal stories--including the $840 bill for my wife’s sliced thumb--and finishing with a prediction that the big pharmaceutical companies were in for tough sledding once Washington begins a serious effort to reduce costs. The responses to the column were numerous and excellent, and I share the best with you here.