growth stocks
Conservative Investor? Why Now Is Your Time
By George Leong for Daily Gains Letter | May 19, 2014
The best way to make money in the stock market at this time is to avoid growth and technology stocks while you take some profits off the table.
The reality is that, despite the failure of the Dow Jones and S&P 500 to hold after establishing new record-highs last Tuesday, the stock market wants more reasons to bid stocks higher. The first-quarter earnings season saw about 70% of the S&P 500 companies beat earnings-per-share (EPS) estimates, but the results were largely based on lowered estimates by Wall Street.
Investors took the opportunity to take some profits following the rally last week. This indicates to me that there’s definitely still some vulnerability in the stock market.
Bellwether retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE/WMT) reported soft results that suggest the global economy is still hesitant to spend after the company fell short on revenues and EPS. And to make matters worse, the company also revised its second-quarter estimates to below consensus. Clearly, the retail sector is struggling, and this will impact gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
On the charts, technology and growth stocks are risky. The Russell 2000 fell back below its 200-day moving average (MA) after failing to hold for the second time in just over a week.
We are seeing some selling capitulation in the small-cap area of the stock market and it could grow deeper.
Companies in the technology sector, specifically the high-momentum stocks, also remain under pressure, helping to drag the broader stock market lower. I don’t expect this to change anytime soon, so this is an area that you need to avoid, liquidate, or protect with put options…. Read More
Investors Causing Massive Shifts in Growth Stocks
By Moe Zulfiqar for Daily Gains Letter | May 14, 2014
You can’t deny it: there are outright signs of stress on the key stock indices. We see investors are worried, and they just don’t like risk. We see huge selling in the growth stocks, with names like Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ/AMZN) and Twitter, Inc. (NYSE/TWTR); they are witnessing a huge sell-off and are now in bear market territory. The biotechnology sector is getting slammed—investors are hitting the bid and running for the exit.
With all this happening, one question comes to mind: what happens next? Growth stocks can act as a leading indicator of what’s next for the markets. Are key stock indices setting up for a huge market sell-off ahead?
Sadly, as this happens, we are hearing a significant increase in the noise. The bulls say this pullback should be used to get into the sold-off companies again. The bears argue that key stock indices are going to shed more gains. Beware; your portfolio might get hurt.
When it comes to investing for the long run, it is critical that investors try to minimize the noise and look at the long term.
With this said, over the past few years, the key stock indices have increased significantly. 2013 was another stellar year. Key stock indices like the S&P 500 increased more than 30%. Companies that are getting sold off—for example, Amazon.com—increased roughly 50%. The NASDAQ biotechnology sector that’s plunging lower now had increased by more than 85% in 2013.
Going forward, it doesn’t look like the year 2014 will be anything like 2013. I expect the key stock indices to move sideways—trading in a range. These ranges may break to … Read More
