Investors face multiple dilemmas every day. Do I sell a stock that has declined? Do I book my gain after a rally? Is the market flashing an “All Clear” or “Stay Clear” sign? How do I make sure to stay invested despite the volatility?  None of these questions has a clear-cut answer. That’s because the market represents many influencers, from global to local to company-specific, and investors, each of whom has her own set of goals and constraints, must measure these factors daily, a near-impossible task.  What we do know from more than a century of data is that the… Read More

Investors face multiple dilemmas every day. Do I sell a stock that has declined? Do I book my gain after a rally? Is the market flashing an “All Clear” or “Stay Clear” sign? How do I make sure to stay invested despite the volatility?  None of these questions has a clear-cut answer. That’s because the market represents many influencers, from global to local to company-specific, and investors, each of whom has her own set of goals and constraints, must measure these factors daily, a near-impossible task.  What we do know from more than a century of data is that the market as a whole tends to move higher over the long term. Staying invested, through thick and thin, is, therefore, a good long-term strategy. But what about the short-term? One possible answer is to focus on stocks that are firmly on their own path, have a compelling story to tell and are leveraged to long-term, not short-term, trends.  Digimarc (Nasdaq: DMRC), one of our holdings over at Game-Changing Stocks, is a prime example. —Recommended Link— I’ve Never Been More Excited About An Opportunity Pot stocks are dominating the headlines. But I’m not biting. Because I’ve… Read More

The first quarter proved to be challenging for many retailers (especially in the apparel sector), and it was no exception for Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN), a holding in my Daily Paycheck premium newsletter portfolio. #-ad_banner-#Sales for the period slipped 3.3% to $3.44 billion, driven largely by weakness in the full-price division (the off-price Nordstrom Rack stores performed in line with last year). It wasn’t an egregious top-line miss, but with operating margins contracting, earnings were cut in half to just $0.23 per share — well short of expectations. With the slow start, Nordstrom trimmed back its full-year 2019 outlook and is now… Read More

The first quarter proved to be challenging for many retailers (especially in the apparel sector), and it was no exception for Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN), a holding in my Daily Paycheck premium newsletter portfolio. #-ad_banner-#Sales for the period slipped 3.3% to $3.44 billion, driven largely by weakness in the full-price division (the off-price Nordstrom Rack stores performed in line with last year). It wasn’t an egregious top-line miss, but with operating margins contracting, earnings were cut in half to just $0.23 per share — well short of expectations. With the slow start, Nordstrom trimmed back its full-year 2019 outlook and is now forecasting earnings between $3.25 and $3.65 per share, versus a prior range of $3.65 to $3.90 per share. In other words, the previous worst-case scenario ($3.65) is now the best case. While the industry, in general, is fighting against headwinds, Nordstrom has hobbled its own turnaround efforts with operational miscues. Changes to the firm’s well-regarded loyalty club program didn’t go over well (failure to send out promotional sale flyers was cited as a contributing factor). Merchandising strategies were also off the mark. The Bright Side Fashion is fickle, and it’s never easy to predict what customers will want from… Read More

It seems worse than it really is… If you read any of the mainstream financial media, you might think that we are on the precipice of another Great Recession. That we are in a correction and headed for a bear market. There’s constant chatter about a slowing global economy and the ongoing trade war with China, and then there’s Brexit — the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. Or not. But let’s step back and look at the bigger picture… —Recommended Link— 3 Minutes to Collect 12 Times More Money Than Social Security… Read More

It seems worse than it really is… If you read any of the mainstream financial media, you might think that we are on the precipice of another Great Recession. That we are in a correction and headed for a bear market. There’s constant chatter about a slowing global economy and the ongoing trade war with China, and then there’s Brexit — the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. Or not. But let’s step back and look at the bigger picture… —Recommended Link— 3 Minutes to Collect 12 Times More Money Than Social Security Just make this simple little 3-minute call and you can get set up to start collecting your checks. All told, your checks can add up to $225,326 over the next 25 years. Imagine that! And these checks are supported by $1.75 billion in new money every year. But you must act right now… because the next wave of checks will be sent out in just a few days. ​Click here for the details. The S&P 500 is only about 5% off its all-time highs set in May. It would need to drop to 2,651 to… Read More

I spent considerable time this weekend trying to find something bullish to share with you.  In the end, I decided to share the chart below. It tells us to expect more gains in the stock market.  It’s a chart of the New York Stock Exchange Advance-Decline (A-D) Line. You can find the A-D Line by tracking the number of stocks that close higher and lower every day, and then subtracting the number of stocks that closed lower from the number that closed higher.  Thus, when you look at that chart, you’re actually looking at the difference between the number of… Read More

I spent considerable time this weekend trying to find something bullish to share with you.  In the end, I decided to share the chart below. It tells us to expect more gains in the stock market.  It’s a chart of the New York Stock Exchange Advance-Decline (A-D) Line. You can find the A-D Line by tracking the number of stocks that close higher and lower every day, and then subtracting the number of stocks that closed lower from the number that closed higher.  Thus, when you look at that chart, you’re actually looking at the difference between the number of advancing stocks and declining stocks. When there are more advancers than decliners, the line moves higher. When the number of stocks closing down exceeds the number that closed up, the A-D Line moves lower.  —Recommended Link— 6 Steps to Retiring This Year (Actually Works!) Financial analysts hate it. But there’s no denying this new retirement strategy is already helping thousands of Americans retire long before age 60. ​Click here to see how you can take advantage. This is a breadth indicator. Each stock, in effect, gets one vote. This is… Read More

Just as with many simplified strategies, the “Sell in May and go away” maxim often rings true.  But investors who follow this kind of advice could be setting themselves up for failure. Take this past May, for example. The market became more difficult as stocks began to slide. As of Friday, May 31, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, an index that measures the performance of blue-chip stocks, declined for the entire month, about 6.5% total. The broader market, as measured by the S&P 500 index, which set a record on April 30, declined by 6% or so as well.  And… Read More

Just as with many simplified strategies, the “Sell in May and go away” maxim often rings true.  But investors who follow this kind of advice could be setting themselves up for failure. Take this past May, for example. The market became more difficult as stocks began to slide. As of Friday, May 31, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, an index that measures the performance of blue-chip stocks, declined for the entire month, about 6.5% total. The broader market, as measured by the S&P 500 index, which set a record on April 30, declined by 6% or so as well.  And the CBOE Volatility Index, also known as the “fear index,” traded above the three-year average for nearly the entire month.  In all honesty, though, we’ve been spoiled.  While we are still in bull-market territory (notwithstanding the recent pullback, which has not broken the uptrend), investors are less accustomed to volatility, having had 11 years of a bull market without meaningful corrections. And the market still trades near its all-time highs, despite the headlines. That’s a good sign. Strength, after all, begets strength.  But the higher the market goes, the more it feels — to individual investors and to professionals –… Read More

If you stop to think about it, it’s fairly clear that many of us take our internet access for granted: We shop online… play online… listen to music online… and even date online. And these days, our refrigerators and toasters, not to mention smart TVs and entire staffs of virtual assistants (like Amazon’s Alexa), are connected to the internet as well. —Recommended Link— The Real Reason Most Americans Can’t Retire by 65 If you’re following traditional retirement advice that made sense 50 years ago… You may be missing out on the most effective retirement strategy… Read More

If you stop to think about it, it’s fairly clear that many of us take our internet access for granted: We shop online… play online… listen to music online… and even date online. And these days, our refrigerators and toasters, not to mention smart TVs and entire staffs of virtual assistants (like Amazon’s Alexa), are connected to the internet as well. —Recommended Link— The Real Reason Most Americans Can’t Retire by 65 If you’re following traditional retirement advice that made sense 50 years ago… You may be missing out on the most effective retirement strategy today. Here’s all you need to know to retire as early as this year. No wonder the need — as well as urgency — to secure our personal data and protect our privacy has grown more and more important in recent years. But the business of internet security extends beyond the need to protect our data. As an example of what I’m talking about, let’s go back in time to October 21, 2016. #-ad_banner-#On what seemed like just another fine October Friday, many of us suddenly realized that our favorite websites weren’t working. Whether you were… Read More