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Conservative. Smart. Investing.
I struggled to find 5 top picks for 2020, I was only able to come up with 2:
For a speculative pick, I still like ROKU, as it is not tied to single streaming supplier – it supports Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, just about every streamer out there. And they have their own ad-supported Roku Channel. As I said on traditional value metrics I would not pick them but I bought a small amount of shares back in 2018 at about $47, and the stock is now about $148! I still think that this stock has room to grow.
(in his own words…)
CELG – Jan 2, 2019 – 63.19, bought by BMY on Nov 25, 2019 at 108.24, 71% gain
LRCX – Jan 2, 2019 – 133.46, current price is 295.69, 121% gain
FB – Jan 2, 2019 – 128.99, current price is 206.30, 60% gain, close to my year end target of 219
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In any event, note the technical trend for Largecap, Midcap, Smallcap, Microcap, Longbond, Gold, and Real Estate in the box below. They are all BUY in all periods. That is (historically) unusual, and counter to long term correlation — as you can see by the Correl (correlation) column, these asset groups are not highly correlated yet they are all BUY in the model and generally have all been trending upwards due to the worldwide search for yield.
All of this to the point that it is about time to begin to fly the plane using Instrument Flight Rules instead of Visual Flight Rules, as it is going to start getting stormy. Data typically reverts to its mean, and in this case, at some point, these relationships are going to begin to diverge back to historic patterns.
I have been preparing for such a thing in the model and will be issuing updates appropriately. If you have a particular security that you’d like a snapshot on let me know.
Mark
Based on daily closing data however we continue to be out of the market, selling at 1970 and yes being out during the last run-up, as well as out during the interim drops to as low as 1850. This model is designed to be intermediate term, and it is biased against large draw downs. So the trend will have to fully reestablish before it will bring you back into this market. Historically it has a 78% win percentage and I believe that over time it will be useful.
The long bonds had a buy signal at 123 and are presently at 130. There is near term volatility with every word out of the Fed, but for the moment it still makes sense to hold bonds for their relative predictability.
I have begun to experiment with adding market wide breadth and other indicators to the model including Bullish Percentage, which in one flavor is the percentage of S&P stocks that are bullish based on Point and Figure charting. I expect that this should further improve the intermediate and long term results.
Below is a picture of the S&P since 1982. The shaded areas are official “recessionary” periods. At a weekly level the technical model is saying Sell in all periods. So we start with the overarching long term trend as downward.
A Daily view of the S&P also reveals weakness. The technical model is Sell in the Intermediate and Long term, consistent with the broader Weekly view. Note that the S&P is a BUY in the short term view.
An Hourly view of the S&P reveals short term emerging strength. The technical model is SELL in the hourly long term and intermediate term, but BUY in the near term hourly period.
I believe what we are seeing is a short-term upward movement in the market but in the context of a broader, long term downward market.
Turning attention to Bonds, the TLT ETF (Long Term Bonds) have been strong. On a weekly basis going back to 2010 the technical model is BUY in short and medium terms particularly in the past 18 months.
A Daily view of TLT reveals recent strength. It is now BUY in all periods. In some respects this is a confirmation of investor anxiety reflected in the high VIX and continuing concern about the market in general. It is also a reflection of the belief that the Fed has no room to further raise rates with an economy that is weaker than the Administration is advertising.
An Hourly view of TLT confirms the above. TLT has been a BUY on the hourly chart since late January.
We are watching DOG, the inverse ETF, for an investing opportunity. There was an opportunity for investing back in mid-December, but the opportunity expired with a profit at the end of January. I will continue to keep you posted on the opportunity.
Overall, the recommendation for intermediate term investors (not short term traders) is an 80% fixed income / 20% market equity allocation as we protect principal and wait for a trend in this market.
As I noted last week, don’t be surprised if this market rises a bit again before a further drop. Technically it appears to be rolling over, but these things don’t happen overnight.
This is no time to adjust the 80+/20 bond-stock mix.