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For the past two months, the market had been pulling back and bouncing around normally, but this week, the post-Fed action has seen selling pressures pick up in a big way—the (more resilient) big-cap indexes have quickly retreated back to their August lows while broad measures have plunged.

Two of our stocks reported earnings last night.

Retail investors may be “buying the dip” but institutions aren’t convinced the bottom is in. These three ETFs can help you weather the storm.

While the action under the surface was hardly encouraging, in the face of plenty of hawkish headlines from the Fed it was impressive that the S&P 500 gained 1.4%, the Dow rallied 1.44%, and the Nasdaq added 1% last week.

The holiday-shortened week was mostly a non-event as the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq were mixed. And while the week was quiet, under the surface there was selling pressure in growth stocks and materials that raised some yellow flags.

Cognitive biases are a natural consequence of being human, but they can significantly hamper your investing success. Let’s explore what they are and how to combat them.

Ahead of the long holiday weekend the market had yet another good week. The S&P 500 gained 1.75%, the Dow rallied 1.5%, and the Nasdaq rose another 1.9%.

This week in an attempt to diversify the portfolio we are adding an energy play.

Between record state-level cannabis sales, improving price compression and positive polling, there are signs of hope that cannabis stocks may finally get out of the doldrums.

Ahead of the long holiday weekend the market had yet another good week. The S&P 500 gained 1.75%, the Dow rallied 1.5%, and the Nasdaq rose another 1.9%.

This week in an attempt to diversify the portfolio we are adding an energy play.

The market’s steady advance came to a halt last week, though given the recent run higher, the losses felt “normal.” For the week the S&P 500 fell 1.4%, the Dow lost 1.67%, and the Nasdaq declined by 1.45%.

This week is the expiration of eight of our positions. Expect to hear from me on how we will manage these trades Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.

Charlie Munger passed away last month at 99, but he left behind important lessons for all of us, about life and investing.

Current Market Outlook


The major indexes have done a decent job of holding above the August 24 lows, and a few stocks and sectors have pushed to new high ground. In the short term, we still think further upside testing is possible, especially if the Federal Reserve issues some reassuring words later this week. However, it’s going to take more than just another couple of good days to turn the market’s trends back up—right now, all of the major indexes (and the vast majority of stocks) are still buried beneath resistance and are trading below key moving averages. Thus, we’re sticking with our defensive stance—the onus is clearly on the bulls to re-take control.

This week’s list has another batch of potential leaders; there’s not many defensive stocks making the list, which is encouraging. Our Top Pick is Royal Caribbean (RCL), a big-cap leisure stock that has a strong chart and big earnings estimates.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (WCG)	271.83	92-96	86-88
Virgin Airlines (VA)	0.00	33-35	30-31
Tempur Sealy (TPX)	85.53	74-77	68-69
RH Inc. (RH)	252.93	97-99	85-86
Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL)	0.00	90-93	85-86
Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX)	123.40	51-54	46-48
Martin Marietta Materials (MLM)	261.52	170-174	158-160
Clovis Oncology (CLVS)	0.00	98-102	86-88
Amazon.com (AMZN)	2.00	510-530	460-470
Abiomed (ABMD)	0.00	90-95	85-86

These are confusing times in the market. It looks like a soft landing for the economy is more likely. But that’s no guarantee. We could still have a recession next year. The bull market could rage on or pull back. Instead of betting on the economic cycle, it’s a time to focus on individual stocks.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) exploded onto the market scene in a huge way in May when semiconductor company Nvidia (NVDA) blew away earnings expectations citing much higher demand for AI chips than anyone expected. It added another leg to the bull market as AI-related stocks soared.

Leading stocks have been breaking out to new highs and recently begun uptrends are looking more and more sustainable, indicating that the worst is most likely behind us.

How to determine which publication is best suited for your investing style.

In 2011, I see an oil Goldilocks rally—not too soft, not too firm, just right.

Mike Cintolo discusses two simple portfolio management techniques investors can use during a market decline.