I’ve been a lot more active over the past few weeks as fewer and fewer stocks are participating in the rally to new highs. Small caps in particular have been showing signs of weakness so I’ve been reducing exposure there quite a bit. We’ve had signs all summer that the rally is losing steam. We may…
Stocks Looking Shaky Again
This morning the European Central Bank announced they’ll be joining the fun and adding their own Quantitative Easing. The Euro currency, which had already been falling since early May, cratered on the news. This should be “good news” for stocks. European stocks rallied on the announcement and the US market seemed poised for a positive…
How to Find the Best Long Term Investments
I’m just about finished with an absolutely fantastic book by William Thorndike called The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEO’s and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success. I highly recommend this book to anyone that runs their own company, manages people at work or makes investment decisions in stocks (for themselves or others). I often say that…
Recent Portfolio Updates
I’ve made a few position changes lately, mainly on the “income” side: I’ve been reducing exposure to tobacco stocks over the past few months and have now totally sold the rest of Altria (MO). Tobacco stocks tend to be high yielders, like telecom and utilities, making the dividend payout, sustainability and growth rate very important…
Stock Market Update –
The stock market decided to end July with some fireworks! This is the volatility I was referring to in my last post. From a timing-cycle perspective, this drop is right on course. And the futures are indicating further downside today, although things could reverse course after the monthly nonfarm payrolls report due out at 8:30 AM.…
Why I Becoming Growingly Nervous About Stocks
Volatility and the monthly high-to-low range of the S&P 500 has been shrinking the past 3 months to the point that it’s becoming “compressed” and due to breakout. Volatility looks poised to pick-up in the very near future. Companies continue to increase Merger & Acquisition (M&A) activity and stock buybacks. Both are signals that management…
New Stock Buy for Income/Dividends
I’ve followed the agricultural industry closely for years now as it remains one of my favorite long-term investment themes and I think the fundamentals are setting up nicely to see things begin to improve for related companies in 2015 and beyond so I recently added a new position in Terra Nitrogen Co (TNH), a maker…
What’s Catching My Eye This Week
As the stock market has climbed over the past few weeks, I’ve lightened up on some of our bigger winners simply because they’re pretty stretched at this point (sell high). But I’m also always looking for new opportunities in stuff that’s gotten roughed up in which to invest (buy low). I used the big rally…