Happy Friday. Markets are flat this week. Some disappointing earnings, some inspiring earnings. A mixed bag. We still patiently wait for the markets to let us know if they will be moving lower or higher. Overall the market (at least the naz) has been trending gently down the past month. One of the bigger news stories is the sell-off in oil and the associated sectors (i.e. the slob). Also, the contrarian indicators (covers of popular magazines - several featured gold) has caused a hiccup in the gold market (GLD), which may have caught a few off guard. It is still way up - been a champ since late summer. Most guys won't let it pull back that far though w/out taking some profits.
Value vs. Growth. Small-cap vs. Large-cap. Small-cap value wins hands down every time over the long term (by a substantial margin - around 500 basis points compared to some). The hard part is finding them when they are cheap (and unattractive/unowned/unknown) and being patient enough for them to rise and go from being value to being growth.
sbux just had it's annual shareholders meeting featuring T-Bennett. Just brokeout and is running and they are talking about huge expansion plans, anticipating China being their #2 country behind the US in several years. Also, same store sales are climbing (for stores open longer than 12 months) and that is despite the fear by some analysts of cannibalism (a store on every corner). Gotta love it when fundamentals and technicals go so well hand-in-hand.
DJIA 10,919.05
NASDAQ 2,261.88
SP500 1,266.99