Again, the three major market indexes edged up on favorable institutional investor reaction to the Trump tax reform plan, his new Fed chairman appointment, some good tech sector earnings reports, increased crude oil price and employment report that was good-but-not-great-enough to suggest inflation requiring an immediate interest rate hike.
Yet again, though, most of our stock signals this week remain long-to-short trades, as our stocks seem to be peaking and heading south in advance of those comprising the major indexes. These decliners aside, there were a number of longs setting new weekly highs along with a number of shorts setting new weekly lows, so should have been a profitable week for most of you.
This current bull market is one of the largest percentage risers and longest lasting in history, but we all know what eventually comes next. We are already earning short gains on a number of stocks and the number of short positions is increasing each week – by taking the correct long/short position on a stock-specific basis we are setting ourselves up for gains no matter the behavior of the broad market.
Still cycling through some positions that proved counter-cyclical after recent analytic adjustments – those not having recovered yet are scheduled for exits soon.
Highlights: 4 new weekly highs in long positions. 7 stocks with double-digit long gains:
CECO +20% HUN +23% BZH +63% LPSN +71%
FIVN +19%
NCI +10%
URBN +14%
3 new weekly lows among short positions. 2 stocks with double-digit short gains:
EVH +19%
EVTC +14%