Volatility is clearly the name of the game this August, as the broader market swings continued throughout last week and swung yesterday and today, too.
While the positive July retail sales report didn’t have much impact on the broader market, the minutes for the July Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that were released on Wednesday certainly did. The S&P 500 fell about 0.8%, while the NASDAQ dropped 1.2% and the Dow dipped 0.5%.
As I discussed on Thursday, the minutes revealed that there are still a lot of hawks among the Fed officials. They noted that “most participants continued to see significant upside risks to inflation, which could require further tightening of monetary policy.”
The doves, on the other hand, felt that “a number of participants judged that, with the stance of monetary policy in restrictive territory, risks of the achievement of the committee’s goals had become more two-sided, and it was important that the committee’s decisions balance the risk of an inadvertent overtightening of policy against the cost of insufficient tightening.”
Personally, I think that the FOMC should listen to the doves and hold its key interest rates steady until the economic and inflation outlook becomes clear. The July retail sales report made clear that consumers are still spending, but the latest inflation reports showed that wholesale inflation reaccelerated a bit in July. In addition, some of the economic data the Fed is monitoring is masking the manufacturing recession that may get worse if the United Auto Workers (UAW) strikes. The UAW wants to get rid of a tiered wage system and have equal pay for all its workers.
So, you can bet that Wall Street will be all-ears during this week’s Kansas City Fed conference in Jackson Hole. This event has traditionally been an international event for central bankers, so their prepared speeches will be closely scrutinized. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the Fed is more dovish at the conference.
Depending on what these central bankers say, the conference could be pivotal. So, we could be in for more volatility this week. This means that it’s crucial you invest in fundamentally superior stocks if you want your portfolio to come out ahead.
So, in today’s Market 360, I’ll share some of the stocks you should avoid. And then, we’ll consider the best sectors for your money right now.
This Week’s Ratings Changes
After taking a close look at the latest institutional buying pressure and each company’s fundamental health, I decided to revise my Portfolio Grader for 72 big blue chips. I’ve listed the first 10 stocks to sell below, but you can find the full list – including the stocks’ Fundamental and Quantitative Grades – here.
Chances are that you have at least one of these stocks in your portfolio, so you may want to give this list a skim and act accordingly.
| Ticker | Company Name | Total Grade |
|---|---|---|
| A | Agilent Technologies, Inc. | D |
| BAC | Bank of America Corp | D |
| BALL | Ball Corporation | D |
| BF.B | Brown-Forman Corporation Class B | D |
| CAG | Conagra Brands, Inc. | D |
| CL | Colgate-Palmolive Company | D |
| CSL | Carlisle Companies Incorporated | D |
| DFS | Discover Financial Services | D |
| ED | Consolidated Edison, Inc. | D |
| GD | General Dynamics Corporation | D |
In the current volatile market, there are really only five areas you can invest in right now:
- Cloud computing
- Artificial intelligence (AI)
- Homebuilders
- Oil refiners
- Integrated energy
If you’re not sure where to find the best stocks in these industries, then I have good news for you…
My Growth Investor Buy Lists are chock-full of fundamentally superior stocks in the five best corners of the market and offer strong fundamentals.
Case in point: My Growth Investor stocks are characterized by 11.3% average annual sales growth and 172.3% average annual earnings growth. The analyst community has also upped their earnings estimates by an average 5.8% in the past three months.
To gain access to my Buy Lists now, join me today at Growth Investor. You’ll also get immediate access to all my Monthly Issues, Weekly Updates, Special Market Podcasts and Special Reports. And you’ll be just in time for my Growth Investor September Monthly Issue, which will be published Friday evening.
Click here to become a member of Growth Investor now.
Sincerely,
Louis Navellier
P.S. There is a great divide opening up in America – and investing in my Growth Investor stocks will help get you on the right side of it. On one side is a new aristocracy that’s amassing more wealth more quickly than any other group in American history. For people like me, the one percent, life has never been better, more prosperous.
On the other side, the opposite is happening. Wealth is flowing out of the pockets of ordinary Americans at an unprecedented rate.
What’s happening is only going to gather in strength over the coming decades. It certainly won’t weaken.
Few Americans even know that any of this is going on. I’ve never seen anyone from my side of the chasm step forward to explain any of these things.
It’s why I put together this video. In it, I’ll lay out exactly what is happening, including several key steps every American should take right now.
The Editor hereby discloses that as of the date of this email, the Editor, directly or indirectly, owns the following securities that are the subject of the commentary, analysis, opinions, advice, or recommendations in, or which are otherwise mentioned in, the essay set forth below:
Conagra Brands, Inc. (CAG), Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL) and General Dynamics Corporation (GD)
