Challo and all:
I've been playing excellent defense with my portfolio in my approach to the market since the NYSEBP reversed on that fateful day, May 13th. My defensive stance toward the market with my portfolio and my investment club portfolio has allowed me to sidestep losses in many stocks and has allowed me to preserve gains in many others. Yesterday's action, however, was painful for the core of technically sound stocks that remain in my portfolio. For the great companies in my portfolio (and they wouldn't be there at this stage of the game unless I thought they were great companies to own for the long term AND were p&f healthy) whose stocks were quite healthy from a long term p&f perspective, yesterday was a painful experience. Not unexpected, but painful none the less.
Thanks to point & figure, I go to bed each evening confident in the course I have set for my portfolio. I never lose sleep worrying about the choices I've made for my portfolio for the long term as my portfolio of stocks face the new market day. However, yesterday hurt. As an example, EMC, a terrific company with a wonderful fundamental story and a great long term p&f chart, dropped $7, and in so doing, fell below it's BSL dating back to 7/96 at $8. It broke through one Bearish Support Line (bsl) on the way down and is a couple of $'s away from another bsl at $41. EMC has touched it's BSL on two other occasions but had never broken through to the downside, until yesterday.
While I knew full well that having exposure to stocks in this market was a risky venture,the NYSEBP clearly told us just that for many months, many others on this thread that follow p&f, like myself, still have exposure to this market, and are not 100% in cash. For those who own stocks, however small a % stocks might be to a person's total portfolio, yesterday wasn't a fun day. Smug is not a word I would use to describe how I felt when I checked my stocks at the close of trading on August 31, 1998.
Best to all,
Bruce |
