Bounce Time?
Stock Futures are up this AM, due to jobless claims falling to 473000. This number wasn’t great, but it was much better than the week before, when claims were over 500000.
To put this number in perspective, claims rose to the 650000 range last year and a claim number in the 350000-400000 range is generally viewed as a positive for the economy. My sense is that the downfall this week was in anticipation of a disastrous number. Well, it looks like short sellers may be disappointed and a bounce potentially could be near.
Keep in mind that we have some other factors that could be used a rationale for a bounce. First, we have poor investor sentiment, which has led to anemic volume, all the way from the NYSE down to the penny stock market. We also, have see takeover fever. Large cap companies are going on a buying spree and using cash a the vehicle. Companies like Dell , BHP Billiton and Intel obviously see value at these levels. Lastly, this morning’s number could be pointing to the fact that the economy may not be good, but at the same time isn’t as bad as people think.
Hopefully, this leads to some bottom fishing in the near term. Many of us own blue chip stocks that are down. Some of us also own once hot penny stocks that have lost the interest of investors. My advice is to re-evaluate your portfolio and add to some fallen positions if it makes sense. After you compile your blue chip and penny stock lists. Review each position and see if anything has changed fundamentally. Now if your current losses in the position are not that big, it may may sense to average down.
Adding new positions also might make sense if you have the liquidity. Especially since we may have seen the bottom already in oil prices. A bounce in oil has recently seemed to be a catalyst to the market and could rally the larger exchanges and make quality commodity based penny stocks look attractive.
Whatever you decide to do, make sure it is done relatively small. While we may turn higher from here looking for bounces and bottoms doesn’t always work.
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