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This week Chris and Brad talk about the latest Chinese GDP numbers and whether it’s safe to invest in China, Tesla’s earnings release, and what they’re seeing with Regional banks now that they’re reporting. After that, they break down FAANG stocks, their popular ascent as market shorthand, and whether Microsoft is “sexy” enough to sit at the cool kids’ table.

In this week’s video, Mike Cintolo talks about the market’s under-the-surface improvement that he’s seeing; no indicators have changed, which will need to happen for him to extend his line in a big way, but there’s no question most stuff has seen improvement and more stocks are beginning to act properly. Mike did a little buying this week and is hoping to add more should the market be able to build on the recent action.

WHAT TO DO NOW: Remain bullish, but continue to be selective on the buy side. The market continues to act well, and we’re encouraged by the snapback seen in many leading stocks of late, as well as a fresh barrage of positive earnings reactions in recent days. In the Model Portfolio, we’re happy to own some very strong actors, and tonight we’re going add one new half-sized stake (5% of the portfolio) in Applovin (APP), while also restoring our Buy rating on Nutanix (NTNX), which reacted well to earnings today. Our cash position will be around 28%.

While Washington, D.C. dithers on rescheduling, we continue to see signs of cannabis sector progress around the world.

A letter from the desk of President & Publisher Ed Coburn on the importance of implementing your long-term investing strategy even during periods of short-term uncertainty.

My “plan” to enter the weekend patting myself on the back for a week of decent stock performance in our portfolio might be foiled by Elastic (ESTC).

WHAT TO DO NOW: Not much has changed today vs. our update last night when it comes to the market, but after a couple of positive earnings reactions this week, today brought a downer—Elastic (ESTC) is getting hit after a good-not-great report. It’s not a complete meltdown given the recent move, but we’re going to sell half our position and see how the stock acts from here. Our cash position will now be around 33%.

Small caps have had a volatile week, which we can blame on the CPI inflation report (Tuesday) and subsequent move in interest rates. That all said, if you just woke up from a two-week nap you wouldn’t notice much at all at the small-cap index level. It’s actually a touch higher than it was on January 30 and currently challenging the levels seen last Friday (pre-CPI report).

That’s all a long-winded way of saying the market has digested the CPI report and determined (for now) that one slightly-higher-than-expected reading doesn’t make a trend. It’s helped that a few Fed officials have said the same.

Despite some under-the-surface concerns, it was another strong week for the market as the S&P 500 gained 1.5%, the Dow was mostly unchanged and the Nasdaq added 1%.

Despite some under-the-surface concerns, it was another strong week for the market as the S&P 500 gained 1.5%, the Dow was mostly unchanged and the Nasdaq added 1%.

The market looks strong right now. The S&P 500 just made a new all-time high in a young bull market and the index is up 5.38% in just the first five weeks of this year.

Inflation is way down. The Fed is done hiking rates. The economy is still strong. And earnings are solid. That’s a good macroeconomic background for stocks. But how long will this good news last?

Stock splits are a boon for investor perception and can actually lead to outperformance over time. Here are two upcoming stock splits and some useful information on finding splits on the horizon.

Despite some under-the-surface concerns, it was another strong week for the market as the S&P 500 gained 1.5%, the Dow was mostly unchanged and the Nasdaq added 1%.

Shares of Pinterest (PINS) are selling off today after Q4 earnings came in slightly below expectations (food and beverage weakness a culprit), though the big-picture story remains one of a company that’s made a number of operational adjustments and launched a series of growth initiatives that should drive higher revenue and EPS growth in 2024. I think the recovery story is intact and the stock’s worth owning. Keeping at buy half.

WHAT TO DO NOW: Hold some cash and take things on a stock-by-stock basis. The market is getting whacked today as inflation remains higher than expected, which has interest rates rallying sharply and expectations of Fed rate cuts sliding. That said, the trends of most indexes and stocks are still fine, and with 30% in cash coming into today, we’re not overreacting—but we will sell one-third of our Arista Networks (ANET) position, which is one of many tech names getting whacked after a good-not-great quarterly report, while placing PulteGroup (PHM) on Hold. That will leave us with around 33% in cash, which we’ll hang on to as we see how this pullback plays out.