I must admit, I did not see this coming. No, I suspected the market would tank today after the nonsense came out about the Republicans shutting down the government via not passing a spending bill. It is that nonsense I did not see coming. The last I heard several days ago is that Mr. Boehner would not let it happen, yet …
So, here we are with a market that is falling hard, right along with oil, and, I must admit, as well, a market increasingly looking as if it no longer wants to hold onto the 2050 level of the S&P 500 and a market that does not want to reach 18,000 on the Dow. At least not yet, that is.
- The relentless slide in oil prices pressured energy stocks and currencies exposed to crude exports on Friday, while dampening appetite for riskier assets and encouraging investors to seek safety in core government bonds.
So, maybe my year-end prediction of 2050 and 18,000 respectively might not come to pass, but, hey, that simply points to my belief that none of us financial writers, analysts, talking heads, or hilltop screamers is very good at consistently calling the market. You just never know when the nuts will come out of their shells. Then again, with the US Congress, the nuts are most always prancing about out of their shells. So, why did I not see this coming?
Oh well … What the market does today only matters in that you see this day, this week, as a major opportunity. The market is offering up a golden open door to get in on some bargain deals. No, the deals are not in the consumable energy sector, unless you want to short that sector. No, the deals are just about everywhere else but in the consumable energy sector, you know the one being dragged down by plummeting oil. Check out the Spider Trust Energy Select Index (XLE). It is sitting at its 52-week low.
No, I am not suggesting the XLE as a buy. Heck, it is filled with oil, gas, and consumable energy companies that are going to have problems for some time to come, save for natural gas, so going there is not a good idea.
No, I am suggesting you look at the NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index (CELS) for opportunity. It is sitting just about three points above its 52-week low, which it hit just last October. Yup, I suspect as US consumers begin to believe more and more in the idea that the US economy is picking up steam, they will begin to “invest” more and more in the now almost highly developed Green Industry.
- U.S. consumer confidence rose in December to a near eight-year high, a sign that falling gasoline prices and expectations of a better job market could give a boost to the economy.
On top of money flowing out of consumable energy assets and into renewable energy resources, and into the Green Industry in general, as consumers feel better, money will flow just about everywhere else as well, which means planes, trains, and automobiles will all feel the warmth of that money flow, just as housing, retail, and every discretionary spending area will feel the warmth.
Don’t pay attention to the man behind the curtain. What you see today is not what is real. The market is reacting, overreacting, perhaps, to the hot wind of the breathless media, the need to stay in tune with the technical side of the market, a small fear of stupid politicians, the reality that oil is not going back up for a while, the need to rebalance, and year-end selling to book profit in 2014.
If you are long in this game, stay long. In fact, get longer if you can. Now is the time.
Oh! And what about those Kardashian sisters?
Trade in the day; invest in your life …
