2 replies to this topic

[Citation]

This is really a sectors market, I think. I came back from a meeting and logged into my accounts and found them all up about 2% for the day. I couldn't believe it as I knew the indexes were down. I strongly believe that the action is and will continue to be in the basic materials and energy services area going forward for at least a year to a year and a half.

[Cirrus]

Agree--been saying as much for almost two years though I haven't said so recently. I'm havning some of my best quarters ever by simply going big picture to small picture. Start sector weekly charts and work down. It's simple to find plenty of longs in this market and mix in shorts. I think the reasons for this are the commodities boom, currency volatility, rapid world growth but slow(ing) US growth and the housing 'situation'.

[Citation]

Yup. Can't agree more. I'm probably longer term than you in terms of my holdings. I gave up on short term market timing some years ago as I couldn't do it well enough to get significant returns. When I started my current strategy of buying the strongest stocks in the strongest sectors, my returns improved dramatically--from about 5% to 10% a year to 25-40%. I also sprinkle in a few strong mo stocks (like GOOG, RIMM, CMG and BIDU), regardless of sector. The hardest thing for me has been holding on through the steep declines, but I'm getting better. I got stopped out in late February and late July, but in both cases, I didn't hesitate to get back in quickly. Another sector that I'm currently building positions in is emerging markets, particularly China. I have a few strong Chinese stocks (in addition to BIDU) as well as a little in the ETFs but not enough!