Markets were strong across the board on Wednesday after news that
Warren Buffet might be riding in on a white horse to save some
insurance companies. January retail sales came in at a dismal +0.3%,
but it was enough to cheer up traders who had been expecting a fall of
about that much after December's drop of 0.4%. The markets also showed
pleasure with Wa****ngton finally passing the bill should stimulate
China's economy when American's go hold wild with their $600 checks
that the Government will take out a loan from China to give them.
These consumers will then likely go to Walmart or some other type
store to buy goods made in China. Score China +1!
The Federal Reserves Head Idiot at the helm is set to testify before
the Senate Banking committee today. Several of the Regional Fed Heads
have been openly talking about the risks of recession being high. Fed
Fund futures are currently showing a 50% chance of another drop in Fed
lending rates in March. Selfishly, I wish they would just stick to
baseball - at least then they can not be tinkering with something they
know nothing about and screwing me, you, my children, yours and
several generations of American's to come. Of course we should not
worry about the very real infection that has taken hold of our minds
and economies, Obama is hope monger and makes us all feel warm and
fuzzy inside!
The Dow Jones Industrials closed up 178.83 points to close at
12,552.24, while the more broadly based S&P500 closed up 18.35 points
and closed at 1367.21. The Nasdaq recorded the best gains, adding
53.89 points, for a total gain of 2.32%. It closed at 2373.93. Small
cap stocks also fared pretty well with the Small-Cap S&P600 rising
2.05%, closing the day at 380.17. Investors Business Daily is calling
yesterdays action a follow through day because Nasdaq Volume rose
about 1% compared to Tuesday's levels. My own personal stance is going
to remain very cautionary, mostly in cash. The 1% in Nasdaq Volume
seems rather meaningless to me, and NYSE volume actually pulled in
around 7%. In addition to that, my own scanning reveals very few
stocks that are coming out of a sound bases to provide the leader****p
for a new leg up. Several stocks are coming off bottoming type
patterns, but this very rarely fuels sustained upside moves. A few
stocks are showing good patterns, among them Watson Wyatt Worldwide
(NYSE:WW) which started its sharp move a week ago and has continued to
add on gains since then. Several Latin American Issues have also been
strong, examples include ECH (Chile Holder) and Mexican Coca-Cola
bottler Femsa (NYSE: KOF).
Strength in Latin America is actually a theme I trust more than
strength and growth here in the United States. Record numbers of
migrants, both legal and illegal, are going back home to Mexico
because there simply are no longer jobs outside of Agriculture for
them in the United States at this time. Mexico experienced a net gain
of 25% in foreign investments last year, and FOR THE FIRST TIME IN
HISTORY experienced lower inflation than we did in the United States.
Other parts of Latin America are seeing similarly positive situations
develop for astute investors to take advantage of.
New Market Cor****ation (NYSE: NEU) has broken out of a decent base on
good volume, low volume pullbacks should provide a buying op****tunity
of the market also cooperates, the same thing also applies to Femsa
(NYSE: KOF) and Wyatt Worldwide (NYSE: WW). New names to watch would
include BKE on a breakout, SLH on a breakout and UDRL on a low volume
pullback should the market to the same. The homebuilders continue to
have strong patterns that should offer buying op****tunities in the
future.
On a more personal note I'm going to try to keep this blog/thread
active on a daily basis. I'm trying to figure out how to make a
podcast, and if I do figure that out we will have 15 to 20 minute
daily podcasts on the market. Over the next several weeks though my
writing may be erratic since I am tomorrow as I am schedualed for a
Mastectomy tomorrow, having found a lump in my right breast. The good
news is that this is has been found very early, and at this point they
have said the Mastectomy will
have better than a 90% chance of preventing any mastization of the
disease. I'm set to have the surgery in a small local hospital, which
I'm more nervous about than anything else I guess, so If I do end up
not having it Friday it would only because I have decided to go to
Iowa City and have it treated there rather than have it treated here.
I mention this not so that anyone can worry, the doctors have all
given me pretty good assurance that the Mastectomy will remove the
tumor and prevent it from spreading. I should be able to avoid
radiation treatments and chemo as well, but to explain in advance that
I may not have something to say every day, or as often per day, as I
have wanted to with the relaunch of my blog and money management
business. If you would like to contact me I can be reached at
bfredrickson76@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Long Femsa (KOF), ECH (Chilean ECN as part of my theory on
Latin American Growth) and Wyatt Worldwide (WW) I no longer have short
positions and am still just over 80% in cash. Should the market show
me better signs of strength I will have no problem bringing that
number up, but with the Political Economy such as it is I do not
really except much real strength to show up anytime soon.
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