"FOMC Anticipatory Upswing"
Today and the first half of this week, was not a question of "Which stock to choose?" but rather "When do I enter the Market?" Most of the nets were good, a lot of financials, brokerages, etc. My 15 year old could have chosen today's hits (he did actually, as he asked about SWS, GNET, VRSN, NITE, MSPG, YHOO and NDB because he hears me discussing those all the time). Those that entered the market in the past week or two, have enjoyed the gains the most. Why? because they had the capital, trading acumen to know when it was time to 'get back into the nets, techs and telecoms' to hold more and more positions overnight, and saw the signals in the past week to 10 days. Other that came on board today BEFORE the meeting were fine also, as long as they had something in their portfolios when the 'news' was finally out.
So it was NOT a stock pickers market but a "Market Timers" Market.. Most stocks were fine, even stocks I haven't looked at in weeks like PWR and ITN were fabulous.
Many traders did not enter because by the time the 'news' was out the market began to fly and they could have ended up buying high and having to sell low if tomorrow there will be profit taking.
That is why in the last few days, I've included much more volatile stocks on the watch list than usual, tempered by a few 'stable' stocks like COST, MDT, WHR, BKB,CLX,TIE, just in case. The volatile stocks were up 1-2 days in advance of the FOMC meeting and probably offered the first 'indication' that things would turn out well.
This upward anticipation played out with stocks like BRCD, FLAS, CMTN, EXDS, MAIL, JWEB, PHCM,WITC, SWS, and not least with NDB. The advances in these stocks triggered a general 'buy' signal that all is looking well. More subtle hints like CUST not tanking despite all attempts to sink the stock. Even today, while BOTH the NASDAQ and the DOW were down, our favorites were up, and quite hardily.. These were all little signs of "FOMC anticipatory upswing" and I entered and/or kept positions overnight because of these signals. |
