Stockscom Report for
Publisher: Colin Alexander Editor: Ken Wilson (450-691-4617)
Subscriptions and Administration: Pierre Fichaud (toll-free:
·
Stocks retrace gains this
week
Technically Speaking
It was mostly a quiet week in stock markets
as the summer doldrums set in on a week bereft of market-shaking news. We
expect a similar situation this week in the lead up to the Labor Day holiday weekend,
which unofficially marks the end of summer in the
The major market indexes namely the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq, all edged lower this week within tight trading ranges, effectively retracing a part of the previous week’s significant gains and resolving, if only partially, the overbought conditions, which resulted from the late summer buying spree.
Generally, considering that the indexes experienced a substantial decline from early May into July, we remain rather cautious about being either long or short shares and that is demonstrated by our quite limited number of recommendations. Moreover, we are entering the typically bearish Sept-Oct period for stocks where lows are often reached leading to year-ending rebounds.
This being the second year of the Presidential Cycle, there is an additional reason to be cautious and that is the strong probability that the low reached in the final quarter of the year would be a major low setting up an important rebound of some magnitude. While this potential is surely at the back of the mind of any technical analyst, what consumes us now is deciphering the market signals to detect whether the low arrived earlier in July this year.
New Buy Recommendations (in order of preference):
None.
New Short Sales
None.
Stock Positions to Sell/Exit:
None.
Portfolio Comments:
New stops have been added to the list while others have been modified. Those that have blanks, are being carried unstopped for now. Please see our complete list of stops in the table below.
List of Current Stock Recommendations:
Action Ratings. The following is the legend for designating immediate action
for our stock recommendations. The first is B, meaning the stock is timely
to buy but the case for doing so right here is not overwhelming. Either the
stock may have gotten ahead of itself and may be vulnerable to a retracement or
else the stock has been performing disappointingly but may simply be
regrouping. B+ and B++ indicate stocks for which there is a technical case
to buy now, with plusses adding weight according to how many there are, up
to a maximum of two. Stocks rated H are ones to hold, awaiting confirmation
to buy more or to sell. SELL, of course, means what it says. It seldom pays
to override this designation. In the case of stocks held short, the rating is S
where positions should be retained. S+ and S++ indicate stocks for which there
is a technical case to add to the positions with plusses adding weight similar
to long positions. The maximum number of plus signs is 2.
N.B. There are no longer restrictions on foreign stocks held in Canadian retirement savings accounts.
|
Date of Entry |
Name |
Symbol |
Entry Price |
Current Price |
Stop |
Action Rating |
|
|
Brush Engineered |
BW |
26.36 |
25.00 |
22.00 |
B
|
|
|
Nu Horizons Elect. |
NUHC |
13.20 |
13.41 |
10.75 |
B
|
|
|
Seabridge Gold |
SA |
12.11 |
14.09 |
11.00 |
B
|
Short Sales:
|
Date of Entry |
Name |
Symbol |
Entry Price |
Current Price |
Stop |
Action Rating |
|
08/21/06 |
Caterpillar |
CAT |
68.25 |
65.99 |
74.00 |
S
|
|
07/10/06 |
Getty Images Inc |
GYI |
57.60 |
44.40 |
46.50 |
S
|
|
08/13/06 |
US Steel Corp |
X |
57.08 |
59.68 |
62.00 |
S
|
New stops in BOLD
* Stop on a closing basis
** Buy if above entry price
*** Split-adjusted price