In Search of the Perfect Investment

Yuch. What was happy is now sad. Everyone is chucking the baby and the bathwater. “Sentiment” is depressing. Newsletters are flashing “Why this isn’t the bottom.”

The indexes don’t show what’s happened to stocks recently out of favor, e.g.

or the biotechs, as reflected in the biotech ETF

or that Brazilian disaster:

With sentiment so overwhelmingly negative, things could turn on a dime.

The big lesson is not to be in stocks that have fallen 10%. That’s our inviolate stop loss rule. It really works in a lousy market, like the one we’re in. It protects us.

Today will be up, it seems. Good opportunity to dump stocks you own in out-of-favor sectors — like biotech, energy, commodities, etc.

Jack, be nimble. Jack be quick. Cash is King. Remember that old mantra. When in doubt stay out. I’m in doubt on much.

Do not go seeking yield. Carl Icahn warns against junk bonds. I’m warning against high-yielding stocks, like NLY and BX.

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m short IRDM, BABA, KMI, BHP, EWZ, XOM, WYNN, GS, and CAT. I’m long SGOL (gold) — which so far has not been a good idea.

I’m looking at shorting REGN, LNG, MNK, ADRO, ETP, AGN, FCX. Need to find more with a “story.” Like no earnings and no sales. But a high price. See yesterday’s column. Click here.

I cancelled my new iPhone 6s Plus. I had “pre-ordered” it on Apple’s site.

I had an inkling: This brand-new, full-price, no-contract phone is a rip-off. Despite its ridiculous price, it was not going to be unlocked. I could use it only on Verizon and other CDMA networks. I could not use it on the more common GSM networks, e.g. those in Europe. Apple told me none of the 6s phones they’re shipping are being shipped unlocked. That will happen “later.”

The law of the land is that cell phones must be sold unlockable. But between the law and the reality is a whole other thing. Carriers will unlock them but you must have paid the whole thing off, i.e. you must not be on contract.  They will unlock your phone when the moon is blue and the day ends is three. The obfuscation is, of course, deliberate. Cell carriers are over billing. All cell phone bills can be cut — with a single phone call. Tell them you’re thinking of leaving. They’ll give you a one-year $20 a month “promotional allowance.”

Favorite New Yorker cartoons.

Harry Newton. The Harvard Medical School has just issued a special report — Overcoming and controlling incontinence. I’m not there — yet. Happy Days are Here Again.