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Inflation is going on. And it’s starting to sink in. Oil prices are soaring. Interest rates are rising. And the Fed is going to have to be more aggressive than previously anticipated about raising rates and reducing stimulus.

September was lousy. October was glorious. What can we expect in November and beyond?

It’s a new year, and a new attitude. Investors tend to sober up after weeks of holiday slacking and refocus on the market. What are they saying?

A crazy earnings season meets a sideways market. Investors have been looking for a narrative that gains traction. Maybe earnings will provide it.

Well, the market’s small dose of good action for the second half of December was mauled by the bears this week—all indexes are down at least somewhat, and among growth-oriented titles from a variety of sectors (tech, cybersecurity, solar, software, retail, you name it), it’s been nothing short of a mini-crash, with the Nasdaq down 3.5%, growth-oriented indexes down 5% or more and many individual titles off 15% to 20%.

The real short version of what’s going on out there is … we’re officially in a bear market in growth. And it’s been particularly tough going in the super-fast-growing small-cap stock arena.

We comment on earnings from our recommended companies, a new buyback at a recommended company, trapdoor tech stocks, the possibility of a massive economy-wide inventory downcycle, and thoughts on energy stocks.

Not many people will claim this was a great week, including us, but taken in combination with last week’s action, and we’re actually optimistic that Monday was the workable low we’ve been looking for. It started, of course, with some real extremes seen last week, including nearly 34% of Nasdaq issues hitting new lows (January 24) and 86% of Nasdaq stocks closing below their 200-day lines (January 27).

This has been another extremely challenging week. Yesterday the Nasdaq opened in the green and was up over 2% before selling off hard into the close. It ended down more than 1%. Today, the Nasdaq is toying with a somewhat key technical level at 14,000.

We comment on recent earnings reports and other company-specific news about our recommended stocks, and include some thoughts on cryptocurrencies and the current burndown in momentum stocks.

Stocks hopefully have settled down after facing a rough market in recent weeks fed by expectations that the Fed soon will embark on raising interest rates. This has led to sharp pullbacks for growth stocks with high valuations and no earnings. Quality and value are beating risk right now.

The Fed is facing a fascinating dilemma. It needs to raise interest rates to address high inflation that seems to be persistent – especially as sharply higher housing prices (about 40% of the Consumer Price Index) work their way into the official inflation numbers. Yet, if the Fed raises rates too high or too fast, it risks a sharp decline in the stock market, a recession and higher financing costs for the federal government.

We update earnings from six recommended companies, summarize our ideas from the February Cabot Turnaround Letter, and provide comments on news from other recommended stocks. Also, check out this month’s Catalyst Report which lists important and potentially value-creating changes at undervalued companies.

Stocks are deep in the red today following some high-profile earnings duds—as of 1 pm ET, the Dow is down 334 points, and the Nasdaq is off 387 points.

The market meltdown is continuing today, and while it’s being led by growth stocks, the selling is spreading out to every nook and cranny of the market—as of 12:30 eastern, the Dow is down 511 points while the Nasdaq is cratering another 350 points.

We’re going to kick off the first trading day of 2022 by taking profits in a few names.

Stocks failed to even bounce today despite all the selling of late. At day’s end, the Dow was off 171 points and the Nasdaq dropped 19 points.