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Short-term, the market remains under pressure, notwithstanding today’s strength, so certain defensive measures remain appropriate. But long-term, the market’s main trend remains up, so I don’t recommend any wholesale changes, just minor fine-tuning.

Today, that involves upgrading one strong stock to buy, while selling two stocks that have weakened in face of growing fears of tariffs on China.

As for today’s new recommendation, it’s a high-risk stock with great long-term potential—if we can just get on board at the right time! Details in the issue.

It was a great first quarter. The S&P closed out March up 10% YTD. The index also rallied an impressive 28% from late October through the first quarter. Is there more upside ahead?

Things have been good. The Fed reiterated its intention to lower the Fed Funds rate three times this year at the March meeting. Meanwhile, inflation is way down and the economy is solid. Manufacturing data was much better than expected and the Fed raised its GDP forecast for 2024 from 1.4% to 2.4%.

As I mentioned recently, I’m now in Europe looking for intelligence and ideas.

This week I’m in Madrid and visited the stock exchange (bourse) and met with some local brokers to try to get a feel for the market and region. Like brokers always are, they were bullish on stocks and especially gold. One stock we discussed which I have followed from time to time is Banco Santander (SAN). It is in a nice uptrend and still well below book value, but I need to do some research and reach out to some friends who previously worked for Santander to get their views before considering a recommendation.

Instead, today I have a new gold stock recommendation.

Growth Investing involves a greater degree of volatility than dividend investing or even value investing. But it also has the potential for much bigger rewards.

Growth stocks are the glamor investments on Wall Street. They often outpace the market and can earn triple-digit returns in a short amount of time.

E*Trade Financial (ETFC) reported blowout earnings yesterday afternoon.

We have many stocks moving right now. I thought you’d like a quick, brief update so that you’re not wondering what to do. One Sell: Big Lots (BIG).

2023 and 2024 were great years for investors, and despite some uncertainty in the market of late, investors would be wise to approach 2025 with optimism for continuing strength.

Even at new record highs, there are reasons to believe the stock market is headed much higher. Here are 10 that come to mind.

It’s all about the election right now.

The massive political event is sucking all the oxygen away from everything else. It’s worth noting that the Fed will meet and likely cut the Fed Funds rate this week. That will be the focus after the election is resolved, if it’s resolved.

I don’t get into the business of predicting political outcomes. That’s not my horserace. As of now, the markets seem to be leaning toward a Trump victory. That appears to be the more likely bet. But all that stuff favored Hillary even more so in 2016. We’ll see what happens.

Donald Trump was elected President last Tuesday, and the market posted the best week of the year. The S&P 500 soared about 5% in the three days following the election.

Investors perceive his election will deliver stronger economic growth, primarily through deregulation and tax cuts. Although interest rates spiked higher on the expectation of a stronger economy, the market views the revised prognosis as overwhelmingly bullish, so far.

The past month has been very profitable for investors in the sector, as stocks rallied off their December lows and climbed strongly through January, with several hitting new highs as I write. In general, I recommend that you enjoy the trend; the long-term prospects remain bright.

But short-term, there are opportunities for fine-tuning and risk reduction, and thus I have a few recommended changes in today’s issue, as well as one new addition, a company thriving in the booming CBD market.

The MSCI World Index now has a remarkable 72% market value weighting in U.S. stocks.

In other words, 72% of the market value of stocks trading around the world represent companies headquartered in America.

This begs the question: Should investors be this concentrated in a single market?

Though the market has been stagnant of late, its resilience in the face of the DeepSeek surprise, a barrage of tariff news and threats, an uncertain interest-rate climate and ongoing geopolitical strife has actually been impressive. It’s clear stocks want to go up, if they can just get a sufficient catalyst. For now, the best earnings season in three years is propping up the market, and breadth has improved from much of the last two years. With that in mind, today we add a small-cap stock that’s a household name. It was a Covid-era darling that fell severely out of favor the last few years. Now, it’s showing signs of a comeback. I recently recommended the stock to my Cabot Value Investor audience. Now, we add the stock to our Stock of the Week portfolio.

Details inside.

Much of what we believe is wrong—and it has always been so. But the sooner we discover new truths, the better.

Recommending good growth stocks is our specialty. But we want you to be able to find them on your own. Here are nine items to look for.

Like many consumer goods producers, companies that make apparel and related products have experienced sharply lower sales and profits with the stay-at-home restrictions during the pandemic. But, for companies that make everyday apparel, particularly those with enduring brands or an outdoor/active lifestyle focus, demand should eventually return to healthy levels.

In this issue, we list seven companies that we believe offer interesting recovery potential.

It was another positive week for the market, with some major indexes nosing to new highs, and while it’s far from 1999 out there, individual stocks are seeing very few breakdowns while the leadership ranks gradually expand. Of course, there remain some headwinds out there, but the intermediate-term evidence remains positive, and we’re now even seeing some longer-term evidence start to point up. Thus, we’ll nudge our Market Monitor up another notch to a level 8.

This week’s list has something for everyone, with some zingers, some steady Eddies and more than a few recent earnings winners. Our Top Pick looks like an emerging blue chip in the cloud software field, and shares emerged from a big consolidation after earnings last week.