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Online brokers reported booming activity and new accounts in March and April. So why are online brokerage stocks still underperforming?

To begin, just a heads up that there will be no Cabot Wealth Explorer issue on November 13 as I will be in transit for a mining and resource conference in Senegal.

Morgan Stanley (MS) notes that stock picking is back, with single-stock activity as opposed to funds and ETFs seeing a significant rise in recent months. This is interesting as there are now more ETFs trading on exchanges than stocks. Blending the two together is the optimal strategy for most.

If you are an investor who owns mutual funds or ETFs, either in taxable accounts, IRA accounts, children’s custodial accounts, variable annuities, pension funds, 401(k) plans or 403(b) plans, you probably own AAPL as part of those funds’ portfolios.

As the United States and China reached a 90-day trade conflict ceasefire, markets have responded positively though the deal is not binding and lacks much detail. The S&P 500 edged into positive territory for 2025. A number of Explorer stocks are having very good years.

This week, about half of the Federal government shut down, causing stocks to waver and gold prices to spike due to uncertainty over how and when the budget duel might end. There are few winners in this tug-of-war scenario. This is not a good time for this showdown given weak business spending, a weak dollar, and weak job growth. The market normally takes these political fights in stride depending how long they last. Stay positive but cautious, and as always look for some profits to take off the table.

WHAT TO DO NOW: Start to slowly come off the sideline. Our Cabot Trend Lines and Cabot Tides remain negative, and most stocks are still south of key moving averages, so we’re remaining overall defensive—but today our Three Day Thrust indicator flashed, and while that doesn’t preclude some near-term volatility, it does hint that a bottom could be in and a good-sized rally will evolve down the road. That’s not a reason to buy willy-nilly, but given our monstrous cash hoard, we are slowly coming off the sidelines with two new small buys, adding half-sized stakes in Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) and Penumbra (PEN). Our cash position will still be around 75% after these buys; as always, we’ll follow the market from here in terms of more new buys—or backing off.

Markets, led by Nasdaq’s leading companies, had an impressive winning streak broken by concerns over an acceleration of coronavirus cases. Our Emerging Markets signal (EEM) stays positive as the virus is being handled well in Asia outside of China but is exploding in Latin America. The Explorer portfolio is well positioned with cash to deploy and stocks holding up well.

Today, we’ll look inside the indexes to see what’s working and also explore what more participation by individual investors in 2020 might mean for markets. Then we move north to Canada for a promising new recommendation that has all the characteristics of a winning gold stock.

Aside from Sea (SE), which zoomed from 80 to 88 this past week, Explorer stocks were largely flat, which to some these days is a good week. This week we look at the history of market pullbacks and some encouraging analysis on bounce-backs and trade before getting to a new recommendation from Shanghai.

After an amazing run higher, growth stocks hit an air pocket this week, with many highfliers coming down and some abnormal action being seen. We haven’t exactly floored the accelerator during the past few weeks, and we took our cues from individual stocks, paring back this week and leaving us with a good-sized cash position. That said, we’re not making any major market call--the trends remain up, and many growth stocks are acting OK--so while we want to see how growth reacts from here, we’re flexible and could put some money back to work soon if key names stabilize.

The big macro news this week is that the U.S. economy is doing well and there’s no really clear reason for the Fed to cut interest rates. Trade deals continue to be announced, and the U.S. should be bringing in a good deal more money due to tariffs than it has in the recent past.

Real GDP was just announced to have risen 3%, thanks to capex on hardware and software to build out data centers. Results from Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META) confirmed this trend.

Despite the self-induced recession, the stay-at-home economy is booming thanks to companies that are letting employees work from home—and even after things go back to normal, it’s likely some of this new workplace flexibility will be here to stay.

Going back to 1960, nearly 85% of the cumulative total return of the S&P 500 Index can be attributed to reinvested dividends. And that’s why today we’re adding a new high-yield fund to the portfolio that gives us exposure to fast-growing overseas markets.

WHAT TO DO NOW: Do a little buying. The market’s evidence has improved over the past couple of weeks, with our Cabot Tides on the verge of a green light and our Two-Second Indicator having flashed an all-clear. Even so, growth measures (Aggression Index, Growth Tides) are still broadly neutral, while earnings season has been tricky for individual stocks. Put it together and we’re doing a little buying tonight but starting slow: In the Model Portfolio, we’re adding a half-sized stake (5% position) in TransMedics (TMDX) and adding a 3% position in Cava Group (CAVA), leaving us with around 36% in cash. We’re also placing Pulte (PHM) back on Buy. Details below.

This week we review earnings from one of our recommended companies and provide updates on three other recommended companies. We share some thoughts on why what produced the remarkable bull market over the past decade and longer may not lead to investing success over the next 5-8 years.

Corporate America is weathering trade uncertainty remarkably well. The S&P 500 index has recovered more than 20% since bottoming out in April but is up only 6% this year.

You may have noticed that the stagflation scenario (inflation and slow growth) is a theme being promoted by the financial media with comparisons to the 1970s. But even if this becomes a reality, stocks are still your best option to protect and grow your wealth. In the 1970s, large-cap value outperformed growth stocks and long-term Treasury bonds. Dividend-paying stocks also outperformed. Our strategy will remain the same regardless of the pundits, value, quality, and momentum.

Unlike most “smart money,” elected officials have to disclose what they’re buying. And given that they generally beat the market, it makes sense to take a look at what they’re buying now.

Markets recovered some gains yesterday following a climb down on both stiff reciprocal China tariffs and speculation that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell might be fired. Explorer stocks had a good week with Luckin Coffee (LKNCY) up 9%, while DBS Bank (DBSDY) shares were up 7.7% this week following last week’s 6.9% gain.

Today, we add a new ETF with exposure to a very particular European sector that should be immune to the ongoing tariff wars.

Despite a Chinese economy that has grown three times faster than America’s every year over the past three decades, it has been a bit of a challenge to consistently make money in Chinese stocks.

The market’s uptrend is under a bit of pressure and the Fed’s dovish stand on interest rates is a sign of weakness that is unlikely to impress Wall Street. Nevertheless, Sea Limited (SE) has regained its momentum and NovoCure (NVCR) is up 35% over the past two weeks. And our emerging markets timer (EEM) is positive. This week we go to Australia for a new fintech idea that has been on a tear, but fortunately has pulled back for a decent entry point.

Today’s stock is a name you’ll know. The company was born in the early days of the internet and today it’s all grown up—a major player in the world of financial transactions.