Amid the volatility, Gene Marcial talks with stockpicking pros about the market sectors they see leading the next major advanceI always say try not to pick the market's bottoms or peaks. Leave that to the pros. Such guessing will only sabotage your sober perspective. That is not to say that you shouldn't prepare for the market's next move, whatever it may be. More than a few market prognosticators are already quite sure the stock market's next big move will be up. Could they be right? Most investors aren't betting on it. But that may be one of the reasons a bull-market rally could be just around the corner. Of course, no one rings a bell to alert investors the bull is stampeding back.
"All signs are out there now for the market to move to the next cycle, which is best described as the next 'greed wave' that will propel the next advance," says Steven Charest, chief market strategist at Divine Capital Markets in New York. The "fear factor" wave is just about over, he says. Sure, there will be bouts of profit-taking as rallies occur. After all, there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the economy and the liquidity and financial crises.
The stock market continues to be volatile. On Mar. 18, the Dow Jones industrial average exploded and soared 420.41 points, a 3.15% gain, to 12,392.66, spurred by the Fed's move to increase liquidity for financial institutions and the Fed-engineered bailout of Bear Stearns (BSC) by JPMorgan Chase (JPM). And on Mar. 24, the Dow again blitzed higher, shooting up 187.32 points, or 1.5%, to 12,548.64. Predictably, the market surrendered some of its gains. The Dow on Mar. 27 fell 120 points, or 1%, to close at 12,302.46—a drop of 229 points in two days. The Nasdaq tumbled nearly 2% the same session, spooked by slower sales at Oracle (ORCL).
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