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Rate hikes typically come when the market is trending up, and investors tend to expect these trends to continue—so they do, for a while. So whether the Fed hikes rates this month, next month or months later, don’t be afraid. Remember that the first rate hike, on average, comes in an environment that is beneficial to investors, and thus you should make the most of it.

Changing your expectations based on how you feel or what the headlines say is going to have you out of sync with the market.

Some of you might have been a bit alarmed at the message attached to last week’s issue that the next issue will be out January 7, 2021. But today we have an update and rest assured, I’ll be following the Explorer portfolio next week and will send an alert if anything unusual happens. I will also have another update and some portfolio changes the following week.

Markets are showing great resiliency as the S&P 500 nears a record and stocks have risen all but one day in August. Optimism about an eventual stimulus bill and the prospect of declining Covid-19 cases and a vaccine are still supporting the economy and markets.

The Cabot Global Stocks Explorer portfolio had another good week, with four stocks all making major moves.

Explorer stocks were all up this week though it is not clear we are out of the woods yet. Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM) jumped from 83 to 90, Infineon Technologies (IFNNY) shares had double-digit gains, and Kraken (KRKNF) was up 8% yesterday and almost 20% over the last two weeks as smaller stocks are in favor.

Centrus Energy (LEU) shares retraced from 38 to 34 as three hedge funds were long Centrus in the third quarter, while six hedge funds were long the stock in the previous quarter. Their total stake values were $14.9 million and $14.7 million, respectively. This is still a buy for aggressive investors.

Markets continue to at best tread water. Yesterday, markets performed better as the Nasdaq Composite ended a seven-session streak of declines.

Kraken Robotics (KRKNF) shares were up 20% in their first week as an Explorer recommendation as the company signed a follow-on contract to supply additional KATFISH™ for the NATO Navy’s new mine hunting vessels.

A key theme of the Explorer is that there is always a bull market somewhere in the world. Today we offer a quick update on two – nuclear energy and electric vehicles.

All in all, the track record of nuclear energy is very good, especially when compared with the effects from comparable forms of energy.

Trim your sails. The market’s recent slide has cracked the intermediate-term uptrend, and while the overall bull market is still intact, chances are the market is going to need some time to correct and consolidate going forward.

The general market picture continues to look bright. All three of our key market timing indicators remain bullish—both the market’s intermediate- and longer-term trends are pointed up, and the broad market is in great shape, with the Two-Second Indicator continuing to record fewer than 20 new lows day after day.

This week’s note includes our comments on earnings from Vodafone (VOD). Next week, Kohl’s (KSS) reports, with Macy’s (M) and Duluth Holdings (DLTH) reporting on June 1.

I’m in Amish country this week so the Cabot Explorer issue will be briefer than usual today. Markets are facing a 5% dilemma. The benchmark Treasury yield closed just above 4.9%, a fresh 16-year high.

Third-quarter GDP estimated growth may be above 5%, signaling that inflationary expectations are still strong.

The market will likely turn broadly positive when expectations are that interest rate hikes are over – and lower rates may be around the corner.

No student of the market is going to look at the action of the past week and shrug it off; that said, looking at the evidence, we can’t say the rally has gone kaput, at least not yet: By our measures, the intermediate-term trend is still pointed up, and a lot of high relative strength stocks (like those found in Top Ten) are pulling back very normally at this point, We’re not going to whistle past any graveyard: We’ll move our Market Monitor back down to a level 5, and if things worsen from here, we’ll quickly bring that down another notch or two--but we’re still holding our resilient names until something changes.



This week’s list reflects the renewed strength we’ve seen in commodity and “old world” names, even as the market has retreated. Our Top Pick is a name we missed a couple weeks back but think this pullback marks a decent entry point.

There’s no question that, from a top-down perspective, the evidence has continued to improve over the past few weeks, with today seeing the market surge as the U.S. and China slashed tariffs on each other. That said, even with today’s run in the indexes, leadership is hard to spot—many names that approach old highs are rejected, with the buying focused on beaten-down names for the most part. Don’t get us wrong: We’re encouraged and extending our line, but we’re doing so slowly until some real leadership develops. Our Market Monitor stands at a level 6.

This week’s list has a mix of names from different sectors and with some at different areas on their charts. Our Top Pick staged a classic gap to new highs after earnings last week. We’re fine starting small here or on dips.

With this stock below its September lows, we’re back to square one. How did we get here?

There are lots of good U.S. stocks. But even more opportunities lie beyond our borders. With that in mind, here are 3 Canadian stocks to buy.

Thanks to Oprah, Weight Watchers stock was hot for a few years, peaking last spring. Since then, it’s tanked. What happened?