GMI: 4; GMI-R: 8; IBD100 stock list– the kiss of death?

The GMI remains at 4 (of 6) and the GMI-R is at 8 (of 10). (Click on table to enlarge.)  There were 99 new highs and 39 new lows in my universe of 4,000 stocks on Friday.  April 22 was the last day we had more than 100 new highs.  Friday was the 29th day of the current QQQQ short term up-trend. Gmi0502 The Worden T2108 Indicator is at 77%, comfortably in bullish territory.  All of my short term indicators for four key stock indexes are positive,  GMI-S = 100%. More than two thirds of the Nasdaq 100 stocks have a MACD that is above its signal line. The bottom line is that the Nasdaq market is in an uptrend and that it will last until it ends.  So I am riding this up-trend for all I can by being long the ULTRA QQQ ETF, QLD.  I also hold positions in AAPL, RIMM, PRGO, V, DZZ.  I have  written calls on some of these stocks. As long as the QQQQ up-trend holds, the odds favor one who is long growth stocks…

Speaking of growth stocks, long time readers know that I have had a lot of success trading the types of growth stocks that IBD
writes about.  Every Monday, IBD publishes a list of the top 100 stocks that meet their rigorous fundamental and technical criteria.  Market leaders tend to show up on these lists and, contrary to the popular wisdom, it is not too late to buy these stocks once they appear on the IBD100 list.  Each new list  replaces the weaker stocks on the list with new, stronger stocks.  For that reason, their IBD100 Index overestimates the performance of the IBD100 stocks over time.  Once each month I therefore create a watch list containing the IBD100 stocks published on that Monday and periodically examine how the various lists have performed. This table shows the results for the lists I have monitored over the past 12 months.  A number of interesting findings are evident.  Note that only 32-62% of the stocks on each list closed higher on Friday than they closedIbdperf0502
on the day that their respective list was published.  (Remember that many stocks have shown up repeatedly on each list for a while.) While some of the  most recently published lists have performed better, note that in most cases less than one half of the stocks on  a list closed higher Friday than on the day they appeared on their respective list.  One cannot just buy any of the IBD100 stocks and expect a gain over time.  Another finding is that the majority of the stocks from each list rose on Friday.  In comparison,  45% of the Nasdaq 100 stocks and 56% of the S&P 500 stocks rose on Friday.  However, almost all of the IBD100 lists had more new highs on Friday than the Nasdaq100 and S&P500 Index component stocks.  Just 2 of the Nasdaq 100 stocks and 2% of the S&P500 stocks hit a new high Friday, compared with 11-16 of the stocks on the IBD100 lists since November.  The  outperformance of the recent IBD100 stock lists is also evident in the finding that 19% or more  of the stocks on the IBD100 lists since January are within 5% of their 52 week high, compared with only 7% of the Nasdaq 100 stocks and 11% of the S&P500 stocks.  The median change (one half did better than the median and one half did worse)  in price the past month for the all of the IBD100 stock lists was greater than the 5% median change in the Nasdaq100 stocks and the +3%  in the S&P500 stocks.  The bottom line for me is that the IBD100 stock list published each Monday is a great place to find possible market leaders that are going to new highs.  However, one must not buy them and forget them.  Many of the IBD100 stocks will weaken and the trader must remain vigilant. The list published on 4/21 underperfomed recently (only 41% are up) because it contained many of the agricultural, metal and oil stocks that have weakened.   The table above (click on to enlarge) lists the 16 stocks on the IBD100 list published on 4/21/2008 that hit a new high on Friday.  It is noteworthy that two of these stocks (BAP and KSU) were among the 5 stocks that hit a new high on the list published a year ago, on 5/14/2007 . Since that time, BAP is up 34% and KSU is up 21%. In fact, 28% of the stocks on the list published a year ago are up 25% or more; an amazing 15%  are up from  50%-315%.  (MTL is up 315%, POT 185%, BIDU 182% and RIMM is up 160%.)  Appearing on the IBD100 list was apparently not the kiss of death for these stocks…..

GMI: 4; GMI-R: 8; 24th day of QQQQ short term up-trend

The GMI remains at 4 (of 6) and the GMI-R rose one, to 8 (of 10). Friday was the 24th day of the current QQQQ short term up-trend. Gmi0425  The Worden  T2108 Indicator is now at  74%, so the market pendulum is in high territory but can remain here for months.  The general market trend is up, with the dollar gaining strength and gold weakening.  I just found a new ETF, UUP,  that one can use to go long the dollar.
I already own DZZ, the ultra short ETF for gold.  All of my short term indicators for four key index ETF’s are now positive.  Stocks I own or continue to watch include:  URBN, ITRI, CPST, AAPL, RIMM and PRGO.

GMI: 4; GMI-R: 7; 23rd day of QQQQ short term up-trend; Buying QLD and DZZ

The GMI remains at 4 (of 6) and the GMI-R  at 7 (of 10).  There were 51 new highs and 84 new lows in my universe of 4,000 stocks on Thursday.  My GMI and GMI-R will rise when there are at least 100 new highs and more new highs than lows in a day.  But the QQQQ short term up-trend remains intact, having completed its 23rd day.  I am confident enough of the short term trend to be buying stocks and accumulating QLD in my IRA.  Note, however, that I am careful to stress that the short term trend is up. My Weekly QQQQ Index remains negative, indicating that the longer term trend remains down.  So, this is a trade-able rally in an overall down-trend.  If the Weekly  QQQQ  Index turns positive, the GMI will turn 6 and I will move my university pension funds from a money market fund to a growth mutual fund.  I trade my university pension account much less often because there are limits to the number of trades I can make each year.  I therefore wait for the longer term up-trend to assert itself before I will transfer  from cash.  I have no such restrictions in my IRA, where I can move in and out of stocks quickly if my short term indicators should reverse. Right now I am comfortable riding QLD and a few stocks, some of which I have written calls on. I also own DZZ, the new ultra short ETF on gold.