I Find Little Energy for Most of the Market

Monday is here upon us once again. I must admit with each week that goes by lately, I am finding myself with less and less energy for the new week. Maybe that is function of growing older. However, I suspect, it is a consequence of months of watching and listening to news stories about hourly Covid-19 death tolls and unrest across so many of America's great cities. Shutdowns certainly haven't helped my mood or my waistline. In my over 50 years on this planet, I can't not recall such rancor and outright hate on both sides of the aisle. Even the happy hours I have witnessed lately are more like 'rant hours'. This environment just seems to be sucking the energy out of everything and everyone. The lock downs had a lot of unintentional, but predictable in hindsight, negative impacts on the economy and society. As my late father like to quip, Idle hands are the Devil's workshop. I think the mass protests across the country are one of the offshoots of 'sheltering in place' for so long. I doubt they would have ever happened to this degree in the economy we had to begin the year with unemployment hitting historic lows. With so many with so little to do right now, this is just one outgrowth from the decision to shut down the economy on a nationwide basis. There have been many others. One of which is so much of the nation seems to have become 'day traders' during the pandemic. E*Trade opened some 260,000 new accounts in March, an all-time record. Trading app Robinhood added three million new accounts just in the first quarter alone. This might be one of the reasons for the huge rise of the FAANG stocks in 2020. This reminds me very much of the late 90s which was the last time so much of the country seemed to want to engage in day trading on a massive scale. Given that the average age of a Robinhood trader is just 31 years old, someone should remind them that bout of euphoria did not end well. Maybe I am getting lethargic in my late middle age, but I find little energy for most of the market. I think any chance of a V-shaped recovery is fading by the minute as reopenings in so many states appear to be stalling. With all the money printing being done by central banks, I can understand why gold has been a big winner this year. But with the yellow metal at all-time highs, I can't chase it here. Obviously, the FAANG stocks have no interest for me at these trading levels. I don't think anyone has a clue when Covid-19 will be contained, even as I continue to suspect a sizable amount of the official death toll consists of individuals dying with the virus even it is not the primary cause of the fatality. That leaves any investment relying on travel and social gatherings out. That takes airlines, hotels, amusement park operators and restaurants out of the equation. I have made a lot of money on the homebuilders in this rally. However, with my favorite name LGI Homes up over 150% from the market bottom, it is hard to chase them at the moment. Financials seem to offer decent value here and earnings beats from this sector of the market have been somewhat impressive given the state of the economy. I plan to drink lots of coffee, hit the gym hard and binge play Led Zeppelin over the next couple of days so I can approach Wednesday's column with a bit more vim and vinegar, and conjure up some financial names that still offer value in a very uncertain market.

I Find Little Energy for Most of the Market

I'm looking for some financial names that still offer value in a very uncertain market.

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