S&P 500 = 1,310

So far today, it’s a soggy day on Wall Street. The S&P 500 is off by a little over 1%. Once again, the cyclicals are leading the market lower. A few weeks ago, I talked about how the leadership of the cyclicals was coming to an end. Since then, the Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index ($CYC) largely kept pace with the market, but it started to break down yesterday. As I’ve said before, the cyclicals tend to move in…well, cycles. Once a trend gets started, it often lasts for a long time.

The good news is that although the Buy List is down today, it’s still running ahead of the market. This is because we don’t have as many cyclical stocks as the broader market. That really helped us yesterday. The S&P 500 dropped by 0.28% while our Buy List rose by 0.41%.

Let me say a few words about trading Nicholas Financial ($NICK). The stock traded as high as $12.99 yesterday but I think it was simply due to the internal mechanics of trading. The stock then traded at $12.32 before closing at $12.70. Today, it went back to $12.31 and is now at $12.50. Don’t be fooled into thinking there’s something more going on. The stock is absorbing more volume and is hence showing more volatility. I expect more good news from NICK when it reports earnings again in a few weeks.

Posted by on April 12th, 2011 at 11:25 am


The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.