Thankfully, the market calmed down on Thursday after yesterday’s frantic sell off. The major indices couldn’t mount a complete comeback, but at least the bleeding was stopped and investors had a chance to catch their breath. The S&P advanced 0.37% to 2365.7, the Dow was up 0.27% to 20,663 and the NASDAQ increased 0.73% to 6055.1.
Yesterday was crazy. Politics finally caught up with the market and sent the major indices tumbling by about 2%, while the airwaves were full of journalists and politicians talking about the impeachment of the president. Unfortunately, this market will likely continue to be at the mercy of news headlines until President Trump can make some progress on his pro-growth agenda…and that’s likely months away from now. Until then though, investors have a lot of positives to lean on, including a solid earnings season, low unemployment and good economic data. And after yesterday’s selloff, there’s also some quality stocks out there at discount prices.
The editors aren’t sure whether there’s more downside to come or if Wednesday was just a one-day case of temporary insanity. In other words, they’re pretty cautious right now, which is why Zacks Counterstrike bought some protection against volatility today along with another buy. Insider Trader also picked up a new position. See below for more:
Today's Portfolio Highlights:
Insider Trader: The timeshare business has been rather strong of late as confident consumers are spending money on vacations. Tracey decided it would be a good idea to put the portfolio’s remaining cash into Hilton Grand Vacations (HGV), a timeshare company that spun off from Hilton in January and recently reported its first beat as a public company. Earlier this week, the CEO bought shares of HGV in a move that the editor called “a CEO confidence buy”. Analysts are bullish and the company is expected to grow earnings by 10% this year. The allocation comes to about 10%. Read more in the full write-up.
Zacks Counterstrike: Shares of Wynn Resorts (WYNN) have dipped to their 50-day moving average, but Jeremy believes hotels and casinos company is set to bounce back to recent highs over the next month. Therefore, he added it to the portfolio on Thursday with a 7% allocation and would be open to buy more down the road. The editor also bought a small 4% allocation in VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX (TVIX), which should move higher if the market continues to struggle with volatility. The full write-up has a lot more on these new buys, including a look at WYNN’s chart.
Momentum Trader: "Out of the ashes of yesterdays’ selling came today’s bounce. Just like I wasn’t panicking, running for the exits yesterday, I’m not jumping for joy today. In the grand scheme of things we’ll realize that this week is not going down in history as anything memorable. It was a temporary blip on a market that shows no signs of stalling out." -- Dave Bartosiak
Until Tomorrow,
Jim Giaquinto
Before You Go...
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