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The markets continue to lack direction and are buffeted by uncertainty regarding tariffs, taxes and spending, debt and conflict, but yesterday came to life as concerns over some of these risks were mollified. Nevertheless, broadening and diversifying your portfolio makes sense to maintain an objective of growth while also being mindful of protecting your wealth.

This brings us to gold - and today’s recommendation.

While Nvidia (NVDA) has pulled back more than 20% over the past two weeks, our conservative AI play IBM (IBM) has tacked on 40 points over the same period- hitting an all-time high early this week.

Cloudflare (NET) shares were up again this week and are now up 28% in 2025 to reach 140.

Dutch Bros (BROS) shares rose 8.5% this week and have surged 23% so far in 2025.

The big news in the marijuana industry this week is that the Tilray/Aphria merger is complete, turning these two Canadian firms into the biggest marijuana company in the world—for now.

Three of our stocks have reached their target price and should be sold. Another of our stocks rose 10% in after-hours trading on Friday as news stories cited merger talks.

Despite insiders being net sellers of Constellation (STZ) last year, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway recently built a billion-dollar stake. Which side should investors take?

The independence of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s position is important, and uncertainty over his role is impacting market sentiment. Dynamism and stability is America’s golden goose. Stay a bit on the defensive and conservative and keep adding some international stocks through the summer.

Data showed consumer inflation keeping pressure on the 30-year bond’s yield which touched 5% for the first time since early June. And in Japan, the trend is the same, with rising government bond interest rates raising the costs of paying interest on its debt equal to 250% of its GDP.

The 5G technology revolution is almost here. And that means it’s time to add these three wireless stocks to your portfolio.

Today I’m going to give you my two cents on Dow 10,000. No doubt the nightly news programs had a field day with that milestone and a lot of individual investors in the U.S. likely took it as a sign that it was OK to start wading back into the market. Wrong.

This month we’re digging into a recovering healthcare specialist that is both a self-help and an AI automation story.

After a few missteps in 2022, a significant acquisition and a new management team have the stock on the right track again.

Moreover, high healthcare utilization and a rapid acceleration in the company’s automation capabilities suggest strong revenue and profit margin growth throughout 2023 and into 2024. Enjoy!

There were no earnings this past week, but earnings season is just around the corner. The beleaguered Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), without a permanent CEO, kicks off our season with its Thursday, October 12 report, followed the next day by Wells Fargo (WFC) and Citigroup (C).

In China, the competition in its EV market is particularly brutal with over 100 companies in the game. Some of those automakers are also working on flying cars to take safety and speed to another level. This is where we go today for a new Explorer recommendation.

Details inside.

Thanks to ETFs, the largest asset management firm in the world is moving away from mutual fund managers. As an individual investor, you should too.

Growth stocks, led by the Magnificent Seven, have again carried the market this year.

The Mag. 7 – the clever name for big-tech behemoths Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Nvidia (NVDA) and Tesla (TSLA) – are up an average of 22% this year. Because those seven companies account for more than a third of the entire S&P 500, they’ve carried the index to a solid 16.5% gain year to date. The Equal Weight S&P 500 index, which equally weighs each of the 500 stocks that comprise the benchmark index, is up a mere 8.5% and has barely budged since the Fourth of July. For most stocks, the entirety of this year’s rally occurred during the post-Liberation Day run-up from the second half of April through early July.

The market’s nascent downturn remains in effect, with the short-term trend of most indexes and sectors pointed down and with growth stocks bringing up the rear (though today was a good first step to reverse that). Even so, the pullback from a top-down perspective continues to look normal, so we’re not hiding in our storm cellar, either—we’re hanging onto our resilient, profitable stocks while nibbling here or there on high-odds opportunities. We’ll leave our Market Monitor at a level 6 today.

One of the more encouraging things of the past three weeks is that we’re not having trouble finding good-potential names with solid charts, and this week’s list is no different. Our Top Pick is a great growth story and now, after a couple of bad years, all of the firm’s metrics are pointed in the right direction.

Marijuana investments are the smart play for the next decade, like buying Netflix (NFLX) or Starbucks (SBUX) at the beginning of this decade.

As stocks have stumbled in recent months, these exchange stocks have picked up steam - emerging as a smart hedge against further market volatility.

Education: Covered Calls/Buy-Write

Buying car-sharing insurance is on the minds of more people these days as services like Turo and Getaround gain traction.