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We’re selling one stock, but we’re going to reinvest the proceeds in two steps—first, by adding another half-sized position in one and by initiating a half-sized position in another. Our cash position will still be in the low 50% range after these moves.

Be cautious. The selling pressure has spread to the rest of the market, with the recent decline cracking a bunch of stocks and causing our Cabot Tides to turn negative.

October is a historically ominous month for stocks. After all, it is the month of the 1929 stock market crash and the 1987 crash. After a rough May and August we step into the mother of all jinxed months with a terrible start.

It’s been a very interesting week to this point, with another round of heavy selling (especially in growth stocks) as a new uncertainty arose (impeachment), bringing many indexes back down to intermediate-term support.

The indexes are near all-time highs in what is now the oldest bull market and recovery in history. And risks are mounting. There’s the trade war with China, the sputtering global economy, weaker growth at home and impeachment. The market is really struggling to muster the enthusiasm to forge higher from here.

Yesterday, investment manager Elliott Management Corp. sent a letter to Marathon Petroleum (MPC), the nation’s largest energy refiner, seeking changes that could potentially increase the MPC share price.

The ping-pong action of the market has continued this week, with quick, sharp fluctuations based on daily (and often intraday and even overnight) news and rumors of the progress (or not) of the U.S.-China trade negotiations, including this morning’s good-looking pop. Frankly, we are encouraged by the action, but to this point our stance hasn’t changed.

There’s been a variety of news pertaining to airlines, and also to the Boeing 737 MAX jet problem, in recent weeks. It can be hard to know which industry-specific stocks to own and which to ignore. I always use profit growth as my first line of defense when deciding which stocks might join my portfolios, on the theory that rising profits should theoretically lead to rising share prices.

It’s been just over a week since the first Issue of Cabot Early Opportunities became available and I’d first like to thank all of you for jumping in early, and for the loads of positive feedback I’ve received.

Tyler is selling one stock.

For most of September, the trend of the major indexes was tilted up, but it was still hard to make much money—just about any stock that was near its peak stagnated and, eventually, hit an air pocket. Meanwhile, stocks that enjoyed solid advances for a few days or couple of weeks quickly met with selling pressure.

In light of last night’s events in the Middle East, and this morning’s market declines, I wanted to update where we stand with our Cabot Profit Booster positions. The good news, despite today’s wobbles, is that all are working very well!

There was very little news or new analyst research on our portfolio stocks last week. I expect a surge in new information by mid-January as businesspeople and Wall Street analysts get back to work after the holidays.

Most of our stocks have been heading north but two have diverged from the pack and are headed south.

Today is the expiration of our first positions.

A portfolio stock is volatile in wake of preliminary Q4 earnings report.

As for the market, it continues to act very well amidst a vacuum of selling pressure. As we write this, the S&P 500 (up 1.2% or so) and Nasdaq (up 1.8%) are solidly in the green, and small- and mid-cap indexes have actually done a bit better.

This stock is the first of Cabot Profit Booster’s stocks to report earnings today after the close. Because of the earnings risk I wanted to update you on where we stand with the position, as well as the downside and upside potential the options market is pricing in for this event.

The market has gotten a little jumpy given the potential impacts of a broader coronavirus outbreak and the trickle of earnings-related announcements, which have the grounding effect of telling us what’s actually going on inside companies these days.

We are so accustomed to looking at stocks and markets day by day that we sometimes miss the big trends as well as opportunities.