-Executive Summary-

• “Whoa…. Hold-it!”  The markets put in a pause today after last week’s strong advance – the strongest advance in the markets since last July 2010.  Manufacturing order information was released today for May by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the data was o.k.  Importantly, there was not a contraction in orders.  See below.
• We didn’t take any actions here at Stock Market Companion today.  We are holding 3 stocks and keeping an eye out for more … see below.
• SMC Watchlist stock Akorn, Inc. – a pharmaceutical company that has disappointed investors over the years has pushed into 52 week high territory at $7.23/share after advancing strongly and consolidating since September 2010.  We will talk about this one more tomorrow.
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• Here is a video interview of a father and son using the Stock Market Companion successfully together – as a teaching and investing tool.
  

– Stock Market Companion – Current Holdings –

– Markets “At a Glance” –

(Please scroll down to the end of the report to see your favorite benchmarks – Dollar, Oil, Gold … closing prices and daily direction.)

– Market Trends –

*Summary of terms from Trader Vic II-Principles of Professional Speculation (pg. 140-141)
*_________* Represents a change in trend rating.

– Market Perspectives –

For your added perspective, we’ve included this chart of the broader market (Successful stock investors develop and start with a minds-eye view of the broader market and keep it clear) –

1. SMC SP-500 ETF Daily Chart

Please click on the chart to make it BIGGER!

– Today’s Highlights –

Today was a “do-nothing” day for market participants.    With last week’s advance coming so strongly off the 200 day moving average, few investors wanted to step up today and “cash-out” those who have been waiting for strength in the market to exit their shares.  Now its a bit of a waiting game to see how the broader market will respond to near term resistance at 1344 – 1345 on the S&P 500 AND see if more investors will show up to push the markets higher.

“Factory order” data for the USA was released for May.  It is a summary report published by the U.S. Department of Commerce and has value.  The results show new orders for manufactured goods were up again in May by 0.8%.  New orders for manufactured DURABLE goods increased 2.1% to $196.3 billion.  This is yet another piece of the puzzle that shows a picture of our U.S. economy quietly “working” along.  It’s not strong growth we are seeing, but steady order levels.  Most importantly – there was no contraction in orders for May.

Click here for the full report.  It is easy reading.

– Story-Stock Investing –

1. Apple, Inc. (Ticker: AAPL) – An excellent growth stock that was getting beaten down with the overall weak market from mid-February through to its June lows.  We purchased our modest holding on the same day that it made its multi-month lows in June and we are holding the stock.  There is no entry for us yet for an “add-to”.  We advanced our stop to $319/share to give this stock room to “breathe”.
2. Nokia, Corp (NOK) – a beaten down growth stock, that is still profitable, manufactures millions of cell-phones, and that has a new CEO (Mr. Elop) at the helm since September 2010.   Mr. Elop has made some hard decisions which may steer this company out of disfavor and increased participation in the smart-phone market – a market that they have clearly missed, so far.
3. Research in Motion (RIMM) – another beaten down growth stock, also in the smart-phone space, which is very profitable, manufactures the Blackberry  – a globally ubiquitous smart-phone, and a tablet PC called the “Playbook”.  The stock has been wrecked because of real loss of market share and ratcheting downward in earnings.  If the shares can break back above $30.23/share, we will probably “add-to” our position.

We like other growth stocks too –

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR)

SodaStream International (SODA)

Linked-In (LNKD)

Oncothyreon (ONTY)

8×8, Inc. (EGHT)

and others…  We simply are extremely choosy about our entries and have been careful about the condition of the overall markets.  Stay Tuned!

• The markets were AGAIN divergent today, just as yesterday revealing further weakness in the technology sector while the broader market (S&P 500) and the DOW (DJ-30) held POSITIVE.
• Research in Motion (Ticker: RIMM $27.75) reported earnings last night that were a major disappointment.  We go through the details below.  The company received 2 broker upgrades going into earnings.  The stock then lost -21.45% from yesterday’s close into today.  We go through our steps in handling our brief investment in the stock this last week – AND WHY, below.
• Crude oil continued to descend today, reflecting a drop in value of the U.S. dollar – BUT also  concern of future demand as the global economy slows down.
• The S&P 500 is finding support at its 200 day exponential moving average.  If the broader market doesn’t find strength here and begins to sink further, the next near point of support is the low it plumbed during the recent nuclear crisis in Japan.  If it fails that point, then the intermediate term trend will be DOWN.
  
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