A few days ago, I told you about a little-known indicator that’s making a small group of investors a lot of money. #-ad_banner-#Unlike other indicators, it’s precise and simple to use. You don’t have to interpret its meaning. It completely takes the guesswork out of investing. Frankly, I haven’t seen anything like it in all my years of working in the financial industry. We call this indicator the “Maximum Profit Score,” because it consistently beats the market and often with less risk than buy-and-hold investing. It can flag exactly which stocks are about to jump double and triple digits… Read More

A few days ago, I told you about a little-known indicator that’s making a small group of investors a lot of money. #-ad_banner-#Unlike other indicators, it’s precise and simple to use. You don’t have to interpret its meaning. It completely takes the guesswork out of investing. Frankly, I haven’t seen anything like it in all my years of working in the financial industry. We call this indicator the “Maximum Profit Score,” because it consistently beats the market and often with less risk than buy-and-hold investing. It can flag exactly which stocks are about to jump double and triple digits in the coming days… weeks… and months.  — Recommended Link — October 28th Announcement Takes Musk Out of Car Business​ You might think Tesla would be Elon’s cash cow… but it’s not. You’ll be surprised to find he’s got his eyes on an even more lucrative endeavor. One that’s potentially bigger than GM, Toyota, and even Apple…combined. Click here to grab a piece this trillion-dollar golden goose for yourself.​ For example, you are probably familiar with the discount airline Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV). Back in May 2014, the stock was going nowhere and there was no indication it would take… Read More

The Federal Reserve has been teasing the market with an interest rate hike for most of the last five years. Finally, it looks like the most powerful central bank in the world is finally ready to make good on its promise. And while that may be considered a threat to industries that rely on cheap cash, it would be a $1.5 billion profit trigger for one of the four largest banks in the United States. Let me explain. Expectations for a Fed rate hike in December recently spiked to a multi-month high. #-ad_banner-#The Federal Funds Futures, a contract traded at… Read More

The Federal Reserve has been teasing the market with an interest rate hike for most of the last five years. Finally, it looks like the most powerful central bank in the world is finally ready to make good on its promise. And while that may be considered a threat to industries that rely on cheap cash, it would be a $1.5 billion profit trigger for one of the four largest banks in the United States. Let me explain. Expectations for a Fed rate hike in December recently spiked to a multi-month high. #-ad_banner-#The Federal Funds Futures, a contract traded at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange that calculates the probability of a rate hike, just hit a multi-month high of 64%. Minutes from the Fed’s September 20-21 meetings reveal that its 7-3 vote to leave rates unchanged was a “close call” and that voting members planned to raise rates “relatively soon.”Both of these indicators point to a high probability that the Fed will finally pull the trigger on raising interest rates before the end of the year. For industries such as real estate and building that rely on low interest rates, this isn’t great news. It threatens to restrict the easy flow… Read More

When I first noticed a bearish triangle formation on the chart of the S&P 500, I had a strong sense that a sell-off was coming. This is one of the more powerful bearish signals, and sure enough, the dramatic drop on October 11 and lack of an immediate bounce demonstrated underlying weakness. With market fundamentals still shaky, this could very well be the start of a larger correction. An Earnings Downturn To Rival The Great Recession Even though earnings growth is expected to turn positive in the fourth quarter, it’s much too soon to break out the champagne. Analysts expect Q3… Read More

When I first noticed a bearish triangle formation on the chart of the S&P 500, I had a strong sense that a sell-off was coming. This is one of the more powerful bearish signals, and sure enough, the dramatic drop on October 11 and lack of an immediate bounce demonstrated underlying weakness. With market fundamentals still shaky, this could very well be the start of a larger correction. An Earnings Downturn To Rival The Great Recession Even though earnings growth is expected to turn positive in the fourth quarter, it’s much too soon to break out the champagne. Analysts expect Q3 to be the sixth straight quarter of declining earnings growth, tying the Great Recession for the longest earnings recession on record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. #-ad_banner-# Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) Chief U.S. Equity Strategist David Kostin wrote in a note to clients that they should expect a below-average number of companies to report positive earnings surprises.  What’s more, he said: “We see a weak third-quarter reporting season coupled with negative fourth-quarter EPS revisions pushing stocks 2 percent lower to our year-end target of 2,100.”  Earnings growth has been negative… Read More

We are a nation of discount shoppers. Just like stock market investors love to buy shares at a discount, consumers love to find bargains when shopping. Retailers exploit this discount purchasing desire in numerous ways. Consumer savvy sellers do everything from issuing discount coupons and participating in loss-leader Groupon-type programs, to holding sales events and carefully setting price amounts to psychologically pleasing figures. Discount shopping is such a dominant force that the International Monetary Fund listed discount retailer Walmart (NYSE: WMT) as 28th on the list of the world’s largest economies in 2013. This means that the discount retailer’s economic… Read More

We are a nation of discount shoppers. Just like stock market investors love to buy shares at a discount, consumers love to find bargains when shopping. Retailers exploit this discount purchasing desire in numerous ways. Consumer savvy sellers do everything from issuing discount coupons and participating in loss-leader Groupon-type programs, to holding sales events and carefully setting price amounts to psychologically pleasing figures. Discount shopping is such a dominant force that the International Monetary Fund listed discount retailer Walmart (NYSE: WMT) as 28th on the list of the world’s largest economies in 2013. This means that the discount retailer’s economic power is greater than most nations, serving as a testament to the success of the discount shopping model.   #-ad_banner-#The Next Level Of Discount Shopping An entire industry has emerged pushing the discount concept to the extreme in the brick & mortar space. Known as dollar stores, these deep-discount retailers have become a thriving industry, while creating over $25 billion in annual revenue. Dollar stores are defined as stores that sell most of their merchandise at a single low price. As the name suggests, the price is generally $1.00 or so per item. These retailers focus on regions that… Read More

Third quarter earnings have begun to come in, and an end to the five-quarter earnings recession for companies in the S&P 500 isn’t likely. Investors have continued to bid up stocks on the hope that earnings could rebound this quarter and that higher profits would overcome the wave of geopolitical and economic hurdles facing the market. But can the market continue higher without an earnings turnaround? If revenue and profits fail to grow as expected, how long can investors rationalize valuations well above historical averages? #-ad_banner-#I’m always looking for quality names and value, but put my search into overtime when… Read More

Third quarter earnings have begun to come in, and an end to the five-quarter earnings recession for companies in the S&P 500 isn’t likely. Investors have continued to bid up stocks on the hope that earnings could rebound this quarter and that higher profits would overcome the wave of geopolitical and economic hurdles facing the market. But can the market continue higher without an earnings turnaround? If revenue and profits fail to grow as expected, how long can investors rationalize valuations well above historical averages? #-ad_banner-#I’m always looking for quality names and value, but put my search into overtime when I start asking these questions. If the market fails to get all it wanted out of earnings season, companies that have proven their business models through good times and bad may be the only safe investments in the ensuing selloff. Can The Market Break Its Earnings Recession? Alcoa (NYSE: AA) shocked the market last Tuesday missing on both sales and earnings, as questions arise about whether companies in the S&P 500 can break their long-running earnings drought. The miss sent shares tumbling more than 11%, while the S&P 500 fell by 1.25%, for its biggest daily drop in a… Read More

Earnings season kicked off last week, with Alcoa leading off by reporting disappointing results last Tuesday. Q3 Earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to drop 2.1%, according to FactSet. As my colleague Jared Levy recently noted, this would mark the sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year declines. #-ad_banner-#Sounds troubling, right? Add that to the ongoing list: The Federal Reserve’s dithering on whether or not to raise rates… stagnant GDP growth… tepid jobs numbers… a slowing Chinese economy… Brexit… a looming U.S. Presidential election… it just keeps piling up. Hopefully none of what I’ve said up to this point has you… Read More

Earnings season kicked off last week, with Alcoa leading off by reporting disappointing results last Tuesday. Q3 Earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to drop 2.1%, according to FactSet. As my colleague Jared Levy recently noted, this would mark the sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year declines. #-ad_banner-#Sounds troubling, right? Add that to the ongoing list: The Federal Reserve’s dithering on whether or not to raise rates… stagnant GDP growth… tepid jobs numbers… a slowing Chinese economy… Brexit… a looming U.S. Presidential election… it just keeps piling up. Hopefully none of what I’ve said up to this point has you panicked. That’s not my intention. But if all of this gloom and doom (and uncertainty) has you feeling nervous for how this will affect your portfolio, remember that there’s nothing new under the sun. In fact, we can turn to history as a guide. For starters, here’s a piece of information that should come as no surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention… the stock market is increasingly looking overvalued. With a price-to-earnings ratio of about 25, the S&P 500 is on the upper end of its historical valuation. Since 1900, the S&P 500 usually peaks at a valuation in… Read More

Last week, the major U.S. stock indices added to the previous week’s modest losses as investors seem to be wrapping their heads around an inevitable interest rate hike, which many believe will happen before the end of the year. The small-cap Russell 2000 (-2%) and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (-1.2%) led the way down, as they typically do, but the market weakness was broad based. All sectors of the S&P 500 closed lower except for utilities (+1.3%), real estate (+1.2%) and consumer staples (+0.1%). However, if interest rates manage to rise between now and year end, the gains in real estate… Read More

Last week, the major U.S. stock indices added to the previous week’s modest losses as investors seem to be wrapping their heads around an inevitable interest rate hike, which many believe will happen before the end of the year. The small-cap Russell 2000 (-2%) and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (-1.2%) led the way down, as they typically do, but the market weakness was broad based. All sectors of the S&P 500 closed lower except for utilities (+1.3%), real estate (+1.2%) and consumer staples (+0.1%). However, if interest rates manage to rise between now and year end, the gains in real estate and utilities are unlikely to last, as rising long-term rates act as a drag on home sales and make Treasuries more competitive for yield-seeking investor dollars. From an asset flows standpoint, Asbury Research’s own sector ETF-based metric shows that the biggest positive percentage change over the past one-month and three-month periods was in energy.   If this strength continues, it should push the energy sector higher, which would suggest a strengthening global economy and would bode well for higher equity prices overall into 2017. The Fear Factor In last week’s Market Outlook, I reviewed the Volatility S&P… Read More

It only takes three things to get me very excited about a stock market opportunity: sleeper stocks pushing toward yearly highs, technical price breakouts, and corporate spinoffs. Each one of these items can be signaling bullish times ahead for the shares. Combine all three signals with a 148-year-old, $52 billion market cap behemoth boasting over 90 million customers in more than 60 nations, and it paints a bright future for the shares. First, let’s take a closer look at each of the three bullish factors at work then dig into the specifics of the opportunity. #-ad_banner-#Sleeper stocks are companies holding… Read More

It only takes three things to get me very excited about a stock market opportunity: sleeper stocks pushing toward yearly highs, technical price breakouts, and corporate spinoffs. Each one of these items can be signaling bullish times ahead for the shares. Combine all three signals with a 148-year-old, $52 billion market cap behemoth boasting over 90 million customers in more than 60 nations, and it paints a bright future for the shares. First, let’s take a closer look at each of the three bullish factors at work then dig into the specifics of the opportunity. #-ad_banner-#Sleeper stocks are companies holding little interest to short-term, fast money type stock market investors. They tend to be slow movers but can make great long-term investments. These stocks are often from old, boring industries such as insurance. When a sleeper stock is observed pushing toward new highs, it may be signaling more than just a short-term move based on price alone. That’s because it often takes a seriously bullish fundamental catalyst to trigger a move higher in a sleeper stock. Next, a technical breakout occurs whenever the share price moves above a resistance level on a price chart.  Many technical analysts consider the 200-day… Read More

The third-quarter earnings season kicked off Tuesday, with Alcoa (NYSE: AA) announcing before the bell. According to FactSet, Q3 earnings for companies in the S&P 500 are expected to drop 2.1%, which would mark the sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year declines. #-ad_banner-#This would be an improvement from the 3.5% drop in earnings in the second quarter, though. And while I have voiced my concerns about what the current earnings recession means for the broader market going forward, there’s no denying that the upcoming earnings season will present plenty of opportunity for traders to make quick, outsized profits. FactSet notes that… Read More

The third-quarter earnings season kicked off Tuesday, with Alcoa (NYSE: AA) announcing before the bell. According to FactSet, Q3 earnings for companies in the S&P 500 are expected to drop 2.1%, which would mark the sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year declines. #-ad_banner-#This would be an improvement from the 3.5% drop in earnings in the second quarter, though. And while I have voiced my concerns about what the current earnings recession means for the broader market going forward, there’s no denying that the upcoming earnings season will present plenty of opportunity for traders to make quick, outsized profits. FactSet notes that 72% of S&P 500 companies beat Q2 earnings estimates, while 19% missed expectations. This means only 9% of companies reported results that were in line with analysts’ estimates. Given the high number of surprises, both bullish and bearish, it’s no wonder we see increased volatility (i.e., big stock moves) during earning season. Yet, despite the opportunity for quick gains from post-earnings moves, many investors shy away from trading around earnings reports. Their reason is simple: It’s risky. Sure, you may see gains of 5% or even 10% in a single day if you call it right. But if you’re wrong,… Read More