Let's deal with the current insanity. It goes like this: the economy is slowing down to the point where the Fed could throw us into a recession. That means sell anything connected to housing or auto. But don't buy anything with the money because that could be suspect too.
Be sure to sell anything defense because peace is breaking out -- witness Korea and those stocks failed to meet their cash flow projections.
Only buy the stocks of companies that are going to have blowout earnings in the consumer packaged goods -- Este Lauder (EL) -- or the real estate investment trusts. You can buy some techs that people are short.
This is the lunacy that happens when there is no discipline, no liquidity and no thought to the longer term.
It is behind many of the reversals which are pure gifts but you have to be willing to take an ounce of pain and that's asking too much for most people.
I find the market almost insultingly negative. It is taking up some of the worst stocks, like Kimberly Clark (KMB) which reported a terrible number and selling off some of the best: Paypal (PYPL) and Intel (INTC) just reported incredible numbers.
Here's my thought: Close your eyes to the action and open your eyes to the fundamentals. You will reach very different conclusions from "the action" which is often fatuous and silly. Many of the "buys" are sells. And vice versa. That's what happens with a thin market, no players and some brokers doing such a horrible job executing orders.
They are, instead, just executing stocks.
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