As homo sapiens we’re hard wired to feel the need to gossip. This goes back hundreds of thousands of years throughout evolution. We still see it today and through the speed of communication technology, that gossip gets amplified. While some would argue the issues of today’s society are unique, anyone who studies history knows that none of what we’re seeing today is new.
It’s our job as investors to be aware of this cognitive behavior flaw and work on avoiding the potentially disastrous implications of allowing our evolutionary gossip habits to enter into our portfolio decision making process. I’ve seen some amazing technicians and traders let their political opinions get in the way of their “process” and watched their horrible downfall. It’s been heart wrenching to watch, but the lessons learned by witnessing their collapse is something that will stay with me forever.
The current political and economic environment is unique in it’s own way, but they always are. Rather than focusing on the noise, I’ve found it extremely valuable to pay attention to the only thing that actually pays us: price.
I rip through 5000 charts a week, and most of the time even more than that. We’re talking U.S. Stocks and Sectors, European stocks, indexes and sectors, India, Southeast Asia and Latin America. I’m searching far and wide for signs of all of these troubles that I keep hearing about in the gossip news outlets. I just don’t see it. To the contrary, I see healthy sector rotation, consistency in positive breadth and momentum, and an overwhelming amount of bullish signs relative to any bearish ones.
You guys know which stocks and sectors I like. That hasn’t changed at all in the past week. So rather than reiterate some of the more favorable risk vs reward opportunists I see out there, the Trade Ideas page is available for Premium Members here. Instead, today I want to focus on a few things I see out in the world that make me look at the glass half full, rather than half empty like so many people I see doing out there. [Read more…]