Still in Good Shape

The bottom line is — the market remains in shape. There are few areas, not so good. Plenty of stocks that are not in good shape. But the things that are working, are working fine.

I just have to repeat something to you. I am a student of the past. I am a student of the Fed—not in understanding them, but in following them. Never in our lifetime have we seen such massive debt leverage and printed money out at the same time…in order to do what? You know what in 2008, there may have been a reason to go to zero percent interest rates and print money. We were losing a lot of jobs at the time and they were worrying about the financial system. Last time I looked, we had growing economy, though tepid. Employment is supposedly getting better, though not that great. But this Fed is acting like we are in a major depression. Not recession – DEPRESSION. And look no further than that on why the market’s doing whatever it’s doing. Keep in mind: The market on most averages were down last year. And most averages are still flat from January 1^st 2011, notwithstanding a couple. And many foreign markets are still down.

But we’re seeing good action nevertheless right now. All selling has been picked up by buying. We’ve broadened out some. And the only thing I can say that’s bad is that we are so due to pullback at any time. Didn’t happen today.

A Couple Oils That Broke Out

A couple oils broke out of pretty long trading ranges today. Now remember what a breakout is, that simple means that the stock is trading between two points in price over a good period of time. And they either break below or above those levels. This usually indicates another move coming, starting with that move. Not all breakouts work. Sometimes go up and they fail…and make you upset. Some on the downside. Just keep that in mind. We follow these breakouts because, IF a stock’s going to go up big, that has to occur. What we’re looking for are characteristics of success here in the market, in sectors and individual stocks. All we’re looking for us leadership and ability to buck the trend.

The following is for your review. I am not telling you to do anything. I’m just letting you know what occurred today. I am your market reporter.

• First and foremost, Anadarko Petroleum (APC) on more than 2x average breaks above a one-year trading range today. That’s a very long base.
• On top of that, Plains Exploration (PXP) on almost 2x average did the same. Not as good looking as Anadarko.

9 States Target Pension Perks

In case you did not know this, in many places in the county, government officials have decided to pay those same government officials with ridiculous over the top pension funds. Which means “So I was a government official and I was making $110,000 a year. I want to retire at the age of 52. I’m going to make my pension $125,000 a year.” I’m not making this up. Seriously. It’s nice to be able write your own rules and regulations and paychecks…of course all coming from the taxpayers. That was on the front cover the USA Today. Good article.