Another week in which there was no major news event, economic report or earnings announcement to trigger any significant movement in the U.S. stock market. Market bias remained upward as institutional investors continued to “buy the dip” as they did the week before, pushing some of the major indexes to new highs.
Our stock lists remain mixed – some longs and some shorts – as not all stocks are rising. Just not a week for great gains, as price movements were somewhat muted on low trading volume preceding the holiday weekend.
We are approaching the “sell in May and go away” period of the year in which some money managers, before taking their summer breaks, exit some positions and leave their portfolios on auto-pilot until Aug/Sep. The reduced trading volume can lead to prolonged periods of static prices – a condition which they themselves create.
This adds to our challenge, as overall stock price action this year has already been uncharacteristically quite flat since February. But with our current White House administration this may not be a typical sleepy summer market – anything can happen to significantly move prices either way, which we will welcome.
Highlights: 3 new weekly highs in long positions. 6 stocks with double-digit long gains:
TRUE +18% EVH +24% FRPT +37%% FIVN +47% NEFF +57%
LPSN +35%
5 new weekly lows among short positions. 4 stocks with double-digit short gains:
FTK +13% PIR +20% NGL +35%
URBN +11%