– Stock Market Companion – Current Holdings –

Nr.	Co.	Ticker	Action	Entry Date	Current Gain (Loss)
1	Gentiva Health	GTIV	Holding	11/15/2011	+15%
2	Boeing, Co.	BA	Holding	12/22/2011	-1%
3	DEX-One Corp.	DEXO	Holding	12/29/2011	+/- 0%

– 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	Price (Today’s Close)	Unit of Measure	Today’s Direction
SP-500	1,257.60	Index	DOWN = -5.42 points
DOW-30	12,217.56	Index	DOWN = -69.48 points
NASDAQ	2,605.15	Index	DOWN = -8.59 points

 

– Market Trends –

 

Trend	SP-500	DJ-30	NASDAQ
Short Term	Down	Down	Down
Intermediate	Flat	Flat	Flat
Long Term	Lateral	Lateral	Lateral

 

*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) –

 

SMC SP-500 ETF Daily Chart (Please click on the chart to see a bigger, easy to read chart on a separate browser tab window).

 

 

– Today’s Highlights –

 

The markets are very quiet today.  Volume is extremely low due to the holidays.

Let’s gain some perspective by reviewing what we know now –

• US Treasuries rose higher in 2011 as investors around the globe sought safety and liquidity.  This was a surprise to many in the investment world.
• Gold (ETF) increased +11.2% (approx.) in 2011.  No surprise.   For many, the big surprise is that it didn’t rise more with the lowering of the U.S debt rating.  Anyone who purchased gold and held after August is down on their investment.  For some this could be as much as -20%!
• Silver (ETF)  decreased -9.8% (approx.) in 2011.  The negative outcome for silver as an investment for this last year is a big surprise for those who forget that silver demand  is closely tied to global economic growth.  Investors who purchased and held silver after mid February 2011 is at least -10% on their investment.  For those unfortunate enough to have been lured into this metal on its parabolic run that peaked on May 2nd (when we at SMC identified and participated in the short), they may be down approx. -42%.  Our short investment yielded over +20% (approx.).
• Of the 6 major world equities markets, the DOW-30 performed the best in 2011 with an increase of +5.9% (approx.)
• The equities markets in China and Japan performed the worst in 2011 with -22.1% and -18.1% performance (approx.)
• Remember, individual growth stocks will move anywhere from 2x to 4x the move of the underlying broader index.  So a -22% move in the markets is absolutely destructive for individual growth stocks.
• 2011 was marked with tremendous uncertainty and turmoil –
  • Arab-World uprising which began in January 2011 and continues today in Syria.
  • Japan earthquake and then subsequent tsunami and nuclear meltdown in March.
  • End of U.S. Federal Reserve Quantitative Easing II Program in May.
  • US experienced the first downgrade of its debt rating in modern finance history.
  • European EMU (European Monetary Union) members Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Italy all contributed to tremendous stresses in the EMU system and a near “freeze-up” of liquidity.
• 2012 will be marked with further uncertainty, CHANGE, and big events  –
  • Pivotal US presidential election (November)
  • European sovereign debt issues are still largely unresolved
  • Arab uprising in Syria unresolved.  Further uncertainty in Egypt …
  • Iran continues to seek nuclear armament
  • North Korea – emergence of a new leader with a completely unknown agenda.
  • Summer Olympic Games in London
  • European economic status is likely recessionary (currently).
  • Extremely low growth economic environment in the US
  • Economy in China slowing down to match low global growth.
  • Uncertainty in Russia for Mr. Putin and democracy there.
• The personal computer industry has changed forever with the smart phone and Apple iPad
• Smart phone applications (apps) are putting a lot of portable power in the hands of everyone and changing decisions made at all levels.
• The impact of social networking is changing how companies reach and engage their customers.  This will continue to increase.
• Oil consumption is steadily increasing.
• Inflation for the US in 2011 was +3.4%.  Click here for a good chart and informational resource on inflation.
  

 

 

– Story-Stock Investing –

 

Here is an SMC Table showing the performances of the major global equities markets and gold and silver.

Please click here to view the  table larger in a separate window.

S&P 500 DJIA (DOW 30) NASDAQ 100 Frankfurt DAX Shanghai-SE Composite Japan – NIKKEI Silver (ETF) Gold (ETF) 12/31/2010 (Close) 1257.64 11577.51 2652.87 6914.19 2808.08 10228.92 30.18 137.03 12/30/2011 (Near Close) 1253.64 12255.59 2615.14 5848.78 2173.56 8379.96 27.21 152.39 2011 Performance -0.3% 5.9% -1.4% -15.4% -22.6% -18.1% -9.8% 11.2% The overwhelming conclusion to make at this time from this data is the absolute resilience of the US equities markets in the face of such significant global turmoil.  One of the main reasons for this strength is the very strong earnings being achieved by US corporations.

 

 

– Benchmarks “At a Glance” –

 

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