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As we move closer to the end of another week, investors continue to focus on the potential timeline to open parts of the economy. New York has just said the lockdown for non-essential businesses remains in effect for at least another month, but clearly there are many areas that haven’t been so badly affected.

I’m sending this week’s update out a day early because I have a window to work now with the kids somewhat entertained with Christmas presents. And it’s always nice not to load up our team with communications the day before a holiday (Cabot is closed Friday).

As we move into the final weeks of 2020, I’m inclined to become a little more cautious with our buy ratings because, well, stocks have been en fuego! On that note, several stocks move from buy to hold today.

In the market, there seems to be some rotation going on. Or at least that was my sense of things over the first two and a half trading days of the week.

The market continues to remain strong in the face of economic data that’s anything but. As we’ve already discussed at great length, this is because the market is forward looking and there’s been enough potential positive news around treatments and the timeline to a vaccine that the path of least resistance has been higher.

The S&P 500 crossed above its 25-day moving average line on April 6 and is back above its 50-day moving average line today. It is only 16% off its previous high. Granted, under the circumstances that doesn’t seem quite right. But nevertheless, there it is.

There isn’t any major news for any of our stocks.

As promised in yesterday’s Special Bulletin today we’re looking past the big picture stuff to focus on our stocks. With one quick note … we just may have a three-day streak going! Yields have backed off and a lot of stocks from different sectors are clicking. Suffice to say, this is a welcome change for those of us with two feet in the growth stock pool.

Enjoy the current strength but be aware of the environment we’re in, and why. Accept that we could see a significant retreat in the prices of many of our stocks in the near term, but that the fundamental reasons behind their current strength should persist despite a retreat, and drive them higher over the coming years.

We’re mixing things up a little this week and next and going with very brief Weekly Updates.

Other than price changes not much has happened with our stocks since I wrote last week. With our offices closed tomorrow and Friday we’ll all be taking a short break before gearing up for the last month of the year.

Anyway, the market doesn’t seem to be fazed by all the incredible things going on in the world these days. Stepping back, that makes some sense.

In the last 48 hours I have received two unsolicited offers to buy property we own. The first was for our second home in Vermont, a handyman’s special I bought in 2004 and sank nearly a decade of blood, sweat and tears into while completing a significant remodel, most of which I did myself. Now that it is pretty much done (as far as any house ever is) I’m in no mood to sell. We use it frequently to ski, and like knowing we have a store of value if our college savings plans go awry.

I don’t anticipate any major changes in our portfolio leading into earnings as I’d prefer to hear what’s new and then go from there. That said, we have a couple of minor adjustments based on stock price action.

The market is working its way through significant developments on many fronts – U.S. presidential race, raging pandemic, positive vaccine developments – and information overload is causing some intense action in individual stocks.

The big picture for the market is that the uptrend is intact but under the surface we’re continuing to see pockets of turbulence. While the S&P 500 is just 2% off its high from last week and the S&P 600 Small Cap Index hit a fresh all-time high yesterday, the Nasdaq is 6% off its high and trading right on its 50-day line.

It’s been another week of mixed stock performance and assorted headlines that collectively give me the sense that, while a lot of investors may be shifting money around, there’s no real consensus yet on what will work and what won’t in the near-term.

Cerence (CRNC) reported this morning that Q1 revenue was up 22.6% to $95 million (beating by $7.1 million) while adjusted EPS of $0.59 was up 103% (beating by $0.08). There are a lot of initiatives at Cerence and management had a lot to say, but I’ll just mention a few things that jumped out at me.

With so much going on in the market I wanted to share some of what’s running through my head today, then keep tomorrow’s Weekly Update focused mostly on stock updates.

The message this week is to stay invested but don’t go crazy on the buy side and don’t get scared on the sell side. Just be measured and try not to do anything that’s uncharacteristic of what you would do in a “normal” market.