FLASHES OF PERCEIVED BRILLIANCE AND WHY I CAN’T STAND FEBRUARY
Some flashes of perceived brilliance that ran across my mind as I was doing my nightly research:
- AAPL continues to have a sparkle of hesitancy in its eye that will likely create the great underperformer of 2013. There is simply nothing there that constitutes buying into the company other than fundamental speak that was equally as loud 100 points higher.
- The BKX (Bank Index) is a bull's best friend right now. It is the index that looks the healthiest of all, with small-caps being a close second. Companies like BAC are moving up with little effort. Even more impressively, small and mid cap regional banks have joined the parade in a big way. It is something that looks like a long-term shift in the fate of the financials. Should be a leader for sometime to come.
- One of the interesting correlations of this move up that started in November has been a strengthening Euro (FXE). The FXE suffered its sharpest pullback year to date recently. This is occurring right as major indices are hovering around important resistance points. Currencies/commodities do tend to lead equities. Keep an eye peeled at minimum.
- I'm not sure why investors continue to be hung up on the gold and silver trade. It was cool a few years ago. It was super cool 13 years ago when Jim Cramer kicked Don Luskin off TheStreet.com for even suggesting gold as an investment. Gold was around $300 at that time. It may be cool again a few years from now. I don't think it will be cool in 2013. There are surely easier fish to fry.
- There is a new small-cap investment candidate that I absolutely love and am willing to allocate substantially into. My only problem is the positioning of the market currently. I am willing to hold off on any allocation until the middle of the year in order to get a better price. Not to mention that the portfolios are essentially fully allocated currently. It is a retail name. I'll be putting out a research report over the next several months. No rush.
- February thus far has been true to form. That form (for me, at least) is one of anguish and misery as the portfolios underperform in an act of defiance for being subjected to such a tasteless month of the year. February is miserable from every vantage point available. It is cold, first of all. Whatever short-term buzz is achieved from being in a new year wears off by the time February rolls around. Valentines Day was somehow inserted into this month to keep retailers from committing self-immolation as a result of the black hole status February has achieved on the calendar. As men we are forced into a fruitless search for a gift that will only serve the purpose of being compared to gifts that are received by your significant others close friends. In either case the gift given is used as a weapon of malice against your significant others friends or against you. Tax papers begin rolling in around February, bringing with them a whole other form of anxiety. Football season ends.
Needless to say, I don't enjoy February from either a professional standpoint or just a regular human standpoint.
Back to my dimly lit room to drink Scotch, while I listen to Chopin and occasionally pound my cane into the floor to summon the help.
