The Dynamic Growth "Weekly Briefing" was posted to the Newsletter portion of the website on Sunday.
To access the "Weekly Briefing", go to the "Newsletter" link at the top of the page and sign in by establishing your own Username and Password.
Is the Fed Propping up the Market?
There are some very influential market guru's suggesting that the huge market rally we have witnessed since March 2009 was due to government intervention. The most notable was Charles Biderman of TrimTabs, suggesting that the "Plunge Protection Team" may be involved.
The "Plunge Protection Team" is also know as the "Presidents Working Group on Opening Markets".
Here is a video of Biderman suggesting this may be the case.
Biderman makes a compelling arguement since;
- Small Investors have withdrawn $32 billion out of U.S. stock funds over the past year.
- Small Investors have withdrawn $18 billion out of U.S. ETFs over the past year.
- Corporate stock buybacks are at their lowest levels over the past 10 years.
- Insiders Selling.
Even CNBC contributor, and professional futures trader Larry Levin (Video) went to record to say "the Visible and Invisible Hand is Everywhere."
Week in Review
The Dow closed down 216 points on Friday, the third straight triple-digit loss on the week. The Financials were weaker on news that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke may be facing trouble being reconfirmed.
The S&P 500 lost 24 points to 1091. The Nasdaq was down 60 points at 2205. Declining issues beat advancers by 9-2 on the NYSE and by 5-2 on the Nasdaq. The 10-year Treasury note was down 2/32 to yield 3.59%. For the week, the Dow dropped 437 points, or 4.1%. The S&P 500 lost 44 points, or 3.9% and the Nasdaq was down 82 points, or 3.6%."
President Obama is trying to save face after the democrats were dealt a stunning defeat in Massachusetts. He attacked the financial institutions on Thursday, saying if they got too big, he would break them up, and proposed prohibiting and/or taxing the proprietary trading.
Dow component General Electric (GE) held up well after reporting earnings that beat analyst forecasts. GE was up 0.6% at 16.11.
American Express shares fell 8.5% to 38.59 despite announcing that profits beat forecasts.
I added a new stock to the Under Loved, and Under Appreciated Stock List this week. We added Yahoo with a Buy Limit of $18.
I've had my eye on Yahoo ever since Microsoft offered to buy the company at $33 a share. Personally, I love to use Yahoo Finance over Google Finance, and even Bloomberg. Yahoo fits all the descriptions of an "Under Loved, and Under Appreciated Stock", and has been the redheaded step-child of the internet search engine space. Microsoft saw something it liked, and we do too.
Even after last week's sell-off, the Under Loved, and Under Appreciated Stock portfolio is up +13% since late November.
My top 2 blue chips in the UL & UA stock portfolio are General Electric (GE), and Bank of America (BAC). Both companies are vital players in our nation, and Valueline says there are tremendous gains to be had over the next 3-5 years. The key is patience.
