Skip to main content

Alert HQ for the week ending 7-11-2008

This post is to announce that the latest list of stock alerts is up and available at Alert HQ. Each week we scan over 7200 stocks and ETFs looking for fresh BUY and SELL signals.

This week's market action showed that wherever the financials are, indexes go down. The Dow and the S&P 500 showed 1.7% and 1.9% declines. Financials make up a significant percentage of those indexes even though their weight has been reduced compared to other sectors. Where the financials do not predominate, indexes actually saw some gains or at least a very small loss: Midcap 400 up 0.1%, Russell 2000 up 1.4% and the NASDAQ down only 0.3% on the week.

Nevertheless, it is a tough market for holding stocks. With rumors swirling around Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, investors have been especially skittish. As a result, markets have traded in wide ranges each day. Throw Iran/Israel and the price of oil into the mix and you have the makings of a spicy stew indeed.

As I have been saying for weeks now, the market turmoil is making it difficult to find good stock alerts on the BUY side and is putting tremendous pressure on previous BUY signals. This week we see at least a slowing of the carnage as, based on daily data, there are only 21 SELL signals. This is two thirds less SELL signals when compared to last week and, with 9 BUY signals this week we increased the number of BUY signals by one. Before we get too excited however, we need to keep in mind one data point does not make a trend. Also this week, we have 2 BUY signals and 23 SELL signals based on weekly data.

What to do with all these SELL signals? If you are not disposed to trading on the short side, you may take a contrarion approach and look through our list of SELL signals for good companies that are beginning to trade at bargain prices. Build that watchlist and be ready to move when price levels are attractive.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Time to be conservative with your 401K

Most of the posts I and other financial bloggers write are typically focused on individual stocks or ETFs and managing active portfolios. For those folks who are more conservative investors, those whose main investment vehicle is a 401K, for example, the techniques for portfolio management might be a little different. The news of stock markets falling and pundits predicting recession is disconcerting to professional investors as well as to those of us who are watching our balances in an IRA or 401K sag. What approach should the average 401K investor take? Let's assume that the investor is contributing on a regular basis to one of these retirement accounts. There are two questions that the investor needs to ask: 1. Should I stop putting the regular contribution into stocks? My feeling is that investors making regular contributions are being handed a present by the markets. Every week the market goes down, these investors are lowering their average cost. When markets reco...

Trade Radar gets another update

Some of our data sources changed again and it impacted our ability to load fundamental/financial data. In response, we are rolling out a new version of the software: 7.1.24 The data sourcing issues are fixed and some dead links in the Chart menu were removed. So whether you are a registered user or someone engaged in the free trial, head over to our update page and download the latest version. The update page is here:   https://tradingstockalerts.com/software/downloadpatch Contact us if you have questions or identify any new issues.

Sprint - Why WiMAX?

I was somewhat surprised when I heard that Sprint Nextel ( S ) was building a separate network based on WiMAX technology. This is not a replacement for its 3G cell phone system but in addition to it. Why would they do such a thing given the scale, complexity and cost? Are they doing this in the hope that if they build it, they (customers) will come? So first of all, what is WiMAX and why is it significant? Technically speaking, it is a 4G wireless broadband network that uses the mobile WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) IEEE 802.16e-2005 technology standard. Why is that good? Because you can get high-speed Internet access with it for devices ranging from phones to PCs and devices we haven't thought of yet. And in this case, WiMAX "high-speed" is significantly faster than typical Internet access via current mobile phone technology. It will be a real data network, not a data pipe bolted onto a telecommunications network. What could this lead to in the f...