The market remains volatile, but it has not had back-to-back down days in over three weeks. In that time, the S&P 500 has gained nearly 30% from its March low. Amid all that volatility, we launched our Crisis and Opportunity Portfolio specifically to take advantage of opportunities emerging from the extreme selling. The performance has been nothing short of impressive. The portfolio is up 25.9% versus a gain of 12.6% for the S&P 500. The four stocks in the portfolio all fall into our long-term investment trends. And all four are small-cap stocks that are flying under the radar of the average investor. I shared one stock with you at my Crisis and Opportunity Investment Summit on April 2 and it's already up big.

For most of March, it felt like the world was ending, especially if you looked at Twitter. The atmosphere was total panic. Then, on April 1, I sat down for a free, public webinar to say that not only is it time to start buying… I’m going to go on record with the #1 stock to buy right now. Let’s look back at the call I made that night, how it’s panned out so far, and what it means for you. If I may, let me quote myself from the night of April 1: This is one of my favorite stocks right now, and this is one of the stocks that we're adding tonight to the Crisis & Opportunity Portfolio for Early Stage Investor. Stock number one, Catasys (CATS). It's a pretty small stock, at a $237 million market cap.

We all dream of amazing profits from the next Google (GOOGL) or Amazon (AMZN). Well, this is the time to find them – among great small caps that have been unfairly hit in this coronavirus crisis. Not just any small caps, of course. The innovators. The job creators. The ones who show the early signs of going on to do great things. I’m talking about boldly buying something like Netflix (NFLX) in 2008. Back then, Netflix was mostly a mail-order DVD rental company. It was a small cap worth $1.3 billion. And we were in the thick of the financial crisis. Ten years later, you’d have been up 11,000%... even 12,000%. Sadly, many, many people missed out on that buying opportunity in 2008.

We began a new quarter, but market volatility remained this week as the number of coronavirus cases in the United States kept climbing and the monthly jobs report showed a steep increase in the unemployment rate. The S&P 500 closed down 2.9% for the week, but I like that it remains well off the March low. On this week’s episode of MoneyLine, I dive into the market action and discuss the best plan to start buying stocks. That’s right – it’s time to start buying again. But I recommend you be smart about how you do that. There is a specific road map you must follow if you want to make the most of this crisis market. The big number of the week was the March jobs report, which was as ugly as expected. But that’s not actually the main reason behind today’s sell-off.

Has the market found a bottom? Is it time to buy stocks again? These are two of the biggest questions I’ve been getting from readers, family, and friends the past few days. Volatility has been near record-high levels. The coronavirus panic has caused gut-wrenching moves. Some of America’s largest companies lost nearly 30% in value in no time at all… before rallying and then pulling back again. Fear and confusion are through the roof. So let me answer these questions… right here, right now. Yes. It is time to buy stocks. That’s why I released Part 2 of my Crisis & Opportunity Investment Summit last night. For those of you who attended Part 1 a few weeks ago but didn’t make it last night, don’t worry.

Everywhere I go, family and friends, coworkers, and even people I run into at the grocery store ask me what they should do with their portfolio. Recently it has been via email and phone calls as most of us are self-isolating at home. Stocks are down, volatility is through the roof, gas prices have cratered, crazy things are happening in the bond markets… and the coronavirus is causing disruption and suffering that we need to address and overcome. We will. I get that it’s a frustrating and even scary time, but I also know the stock market has taken gut punches in the past. It always – always – finds a way to rebound. You need to have already laid the groundwork when it does.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the market has taken a beating in March, and we are closing in on the worst month since 2008. But both the economy and stocks will recover from the coronavirus – and I want to explain why. There are several positive signs for consumers, such as lower oil prices. Add in historically low interest rates and you have the strong likelihood that businesses and consumers will spend. Underlining these positives is a massive stimulus package on the way that will help kickstart the economy when the time is right and the coronavirus is brought under control. To that end, help looks to be on the way from healthcare and biotechnology companies. I’ve mentioned Fulgent Genetics (FLGT) here in MoneyWire before.

In March 2009, I was working in Manhattan at my investment advisory firm and writing newsletters. At the time, I was also a regular guest on Fox Business prior to signing a contract with the network. You would think all things in my work life were good. I was busy doing what I love and had multiple streams of income. However, everything that I did – including in my free time – revolved around the stock market. Heading into that month, the S&P 500 had lost over half its value, and there appeared to be no end in sight. Nearly everyone had given up on stocks… and investing in general. The bears and doomsdayers were everywhere. You could not turn on the TV, open the internet, or read a newspaper without hearing about “the end of Wall Street.”

Prices. You can’t make a move in today’s world without seeing the price for something. You’ve got prices for cars, homes, gas, food, insurance, medical care, appliances, and services. You’ve got prices for financial assets like stocks and bonds. Most people view a price as having just one side. A stock’s price is $42, a home’s price is $350,000, and a car’s price is $27,000. For most people, the thinking stops there. Yet, there’s a different, very powerful way to view prices beyond them having just one side. Not many people use this way of seeing things, but it’s one of the great secrets of the financial markets… something that lets you see what others do not. 

There is nothing I hate more than people who use scare tactics for personal gain. Especially right now. Come to find out, Bill Ackman, the hedge fund CEO of Pershing Capital who loves sparring with other billionaires in the media, was buying up some of the very stocks he was warning us about last week. That’s because it never pays to bet against America. The truth is, we’ve all seen this cycle play out before. The previous financial crisis of 2008-2009 spooked investors so much that shares of some of the largest and most well-respected companies got crushed. Does the market go straight up after something like that? No. But people who heard the knock of opportunity set themselves up for serious upside.

Yes, it was another crazy week for stocks. This week, though, there was more of the good kind of crazy. After the best three-day rally since the 1930s – which is still hard to believe – the market sold off today into the close. Even after the late-day selling, the S&P 500 still managed to post an impressive 11.5% gain for the week. In this week’s episode of MoneyLine, I’ll help you make sense of the wild week and give you an update on all things coronavirus and… finally!... a stimulus package. We’ll also discuss the big question: Was this week’s positive action the start of a new bull market or simply a bear market rally? We’ll look back at past bear markets for some clues and I’ll share my own analysis as I give you my answer.

With so much going on in the world, it’s difficult to step outside of our day-to-day concerns and think about the future. Cities, states, and whole countries are hunkering down to prevent the spread of the coronavirus to vulnerable populations. The toll on human life is tragic, while the economic impact has cut swift and deep. But in thinking about the future, I’m sure we’ll come out of the crisis stronger, wiser, and better prepared for a market resurgence. Just like we’ve always done.