Profit from the Great Momentum Massacre

This week's continuation of the Great Momentum Massacre has torn down some of the biggest gainers of the past six months. March 28, 2014     Profit from the Great Momentum Massacre   Sifting through the rubble for a timely trade... Boring stocks are back! Plus: Time to revise expectations... again   Greg Guenthner coming to you from Baltimore, MD... Greg Guenthner Don't look now... The boring stocks are back. This week's continuation of the Great Momentum Massacre has torn down some of the biggest gainers of the past six months. I know it's difficult to watch traders slaughter these momentum darlings. But you have to tape your eyes open and pay attention. Your trading account depends on it... Here's the tally (so far): Tech stocks? Cooked. Social media? Butchered. Biotech? Obliterated. Granted, after yesterday's action, some of these trades are looking less terrible. Unfortunately for anyone attempting to hold these stocks long term, "less terrible" is far from bullish. Sure, you could take a few shares for a trade to see if they bounce here. But it's tough to say at this point if any moves higher will become anything more than a relief rally. Here's a fun test you can run on your trading portfolio right now... If you find yourself thinking "Gee, my trades are only down 2% today," after the closing bell every day for a week, it's probably time to trim your losses and figure out what the heck is going on. Here's a hint: investors are trading in their riskier growth stocks that have already produced huge returns. Instead, they're opting for boring, safe stocks. That's right. While the NASDAQ continues to slip lower, everyone is buying up Dow components and other boring names that have lagged the averages lately. Take a look... Stodgy dividend-payers like Johnson & Johnson and Clorox are catching a bid. Both are up more than 2.5% over the past 15 trading days while growth keeps getting smacked. The move to "safe" stocks makes sense. The Dow has slipped behind the rest of the market this year. While the S&P and NASDAQ registered new all-time highs earlier this month, the Dow was nowhere to be found. Now, it's time to play catch-up... Does this rotation to boring stocks mean that a market top is in? I don't know. I don't call tops. I don't call bottoms. I just spot opportunities. If you want to get anywhere in the trading game, this should be your goal, too. Look for the boring stocks to continue to gain traction. And if you're desperately hanging onto faltering momentum names, today would be a good day to reevaluate you positions...         Maryland Man Makes Shocking On-Camera Confession: "I Can Make More Money Per Hour – On My Lunch Break – Than I'll Ever Get From My Day Job" Discover the incredible, TRUE story of an average office worker who secretly collected $450 per hour on the side... Click here now to get the full story.           Rude Numbers Targets, Predictions and Wild Guesses   $5 billion is how much Walmart is demanding from Visa as a result of overcharges, according to a new lawsuit. 30 minutes is all it took yesterday morning for the NASDAQ to drop 1%... and then resurge back into the green. $85 buys one share of Zillow stock. Shares have fallen sharply from recent highs of $100--another "social" stock bites the dust... $101.74 buys a barrel of crude this morning. Oil continues its rise this week. It's now less than $4 from its year-to-date highs... 3,568 is where you'll find NASDAQ futures this morning. The tech-heavy index is trying to open in the green after a tough trading week...     Rude Trends When to Buy... When to Sell   It's that time of year again... The first quarter is nearly behind us. Time to let go of some of the loftier expectations for stocks and earnings. "Traders and pundits alike are getting less optimistic about the near term and some about the longer term as they measure the length of the current bull market," writes Dragonfly Capital's Greg Harmon. "At 5 years who can blame them. Out brains are wired to look for patterns and there are plenty of them out there that make the next 3-6 months look not so good." It's true. I can easily find handfuls of ominous charts. And I can counter them with bullish ones, too. There is evidence for whatever point you'd like to prove. The secret is not getting too caught up in what might happen in the markets. Explore all the options--but don't convince yourself that any of them must play out exactly as you'd expect. React to what the market gives you and you'll come out on top in the long run... [Ed. Note: Send your feedback here: rude@agorafinancial.com - and follow me on Twitter: @GregGuenthner]     Ignore At Your Own Peril Today's Must Read Links   American Oil Is Back! Here's How You Can Be a Player... The Wildest Healthcare Story of 2014 When Your Accountant Wants Tax-Free Income... This is What He Does     BE SURE TO ADD dr@dailyreckoning.com to your address book.       Additional Articles & Commentary: Join the conversation! Follow us on social media:         The Rude Awakening is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We do not rent or share your email address. By submitting your email address, you consent to Agora Financial delivering daily email issues and advertisements. To end your Rude Awakening e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from The Rude Awakening, click here. Please read our Privacy Statement. For any further comments or concerns please email us at rude@agorafinancial.com. If you are you having trouble receiving your Rude Awakening subscription, you can ensure its arrival in your mailbox by whitelisting The Rude Awakening. © 2014 Agora Financial, LLC. 808 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202. Although our employees may answer your general customer service questions, they are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular investment situation. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed as personalized investment advice. We expressly forbid our writers from having a financial interest in any security they personally recommend to our readers. All of our employees and agents must wait 24 hours after on-line publication or 72 hours after the mailing of a printed-only publication prior to following an initial recommendation. Any investments recommended in this letter should be made only after consulting with your investment advisor and only after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.