7 Things Investors Should Do Now

Considering the lousy tone of the market... [Shield] AN OXFORD CLUB PUBLICATION [Liberty Through Wealth]( [View in browser]( SPONSORED [Investing Wizard Who Turned $37K Into $2.7M in Just 4 Years Makes His Next Big Move]( [Nate Beat - Play button]( He started from nothing and became a multimillionaire... He's now one of the most sought-after trading experts... Yet he operates 858 miles from Wall Street. And now, he's revealing his No. 1 favorite strategy that targets MASSIVE weekly profits with just one stock ticker. [SEE THE PROOF HERE]( EDITOR'S NOTE You're cordially invited to an enchanting five-star resort on California's Pacific coast... There, [nearly two dozen of the world's greatest financial minds and investment experts will come together]( to discuss, debate and strategize the best ways to meet the challenges and profit from the opportunities that lie ahead... And they'll reveal what they're calling your "[2024 Election Year Profit Plan]( If the location is a little too far for you to make it, don't fret! Because it's so important to us that ALL of our readers have the chance to benefit from this plan, we're also offering a livestream-only option for those who are unable to join us in person. [Find all of the important details here.]( - Nicole Labra, Senior Managing Editor THE SHORTEST WAY TO A RICH LIFE [This Year's Big Winner Is Up 30,000%]( [Alexander Green | Chief Investment Strategist | The Oxford Club]( [Alexander Green]( In the 23 years that I've been The Oxford Club's Chief Investment Strategist, our Trading Portfolio has beaten the S&P 500 by 145%. (No small feat when 9 out of 10 professional money managers fail to beat the index over periods of a decade or more.) However, our performance over the past year and a half has not been as strong, quite frankly. Let's look at the reasons why, starting with a bit of history. Stocks hit an all-time high in January of last year. Since then, they have given investors a rough ride, to put it mildly. The S&P 500 ended last year down more than 18%. Bonds - which usually provide ballast - also suffered. In fact, they had their worst year in recorded history. Stocks bottomed last October, then entered a bull market - defined as a 20% rise off the low - this spring. But the market went back into a sinking spell in the third quarter. And the slump has continued this month. Yet - as many analysts point out - the S&P 500 is still up around 9% this year. While true, that's deceiving. For starters, the S&P 500 is down 11% from last year's high. And the overwhelming majority of stocks in the index are lower this year. In fact, 13% of them - more than 1 in 8 - hit a 52-week low this week. In other words, they're not just down. They're way down. SPONSORED [Author of Get Rich with Dividends Is Giving Away His Ultimate Dividend Package FOR FREE!]( [Click Here to Get Marc Lichtenfeld's Ultimate Dividend Package]( Including Details on His #1 Dividend Stock... the Safest 8% Dividend in the World... the Top Three "Extreme Dividend" Stocks... and Much, Much More. [For Free.]( This year's single-digit return is due to seven stocks - often referred to as "The Magnificent Seven" - Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOGL), Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN), Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) and Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA). These tech megacaps - with a combined market cap of approximately $13 trillion - account for more than a quarter of the total value of the index. That's why the S&P Equal Weight Index - which holds all 500 companies in equal amounts - is down year to date. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is also negative for the year. So is the small cap Russell 2000 Index. (It's down more than 20% from last year's high.) So are real estate investment trusts. (The S&P REIT Index is down more than 30% from last year's high.) And so are most foreign markets, especially when measured in the U.S. dollar, which has been uber-strong this year. Bonds are also getting killed. Even utilities - considered among the safest bets in the stock market - have shed 20% this year, making them the worst-performing sector in the index. The only people who might have made decent money so far this year are traders who jump on whatever is hot. To newbies, this may sound like a great strategy, but it isn't. Like a dog that chases anything that goes whizzing by, it eventually ends with a sharp yelp... and a splat. For example, this year's hottest stock - artificial intelligence leader Nvidia - has plunged more than 60 points just since September 1. The real winners this year are folks who own money market mutual funds. The current yield is more than 30,000% higher than in February 2022, the month before the Fed began raising short-term interest rates to combat inflation. (Many banks are still paying just 0.01% on cash deposits. Move that money immediately.) Why has this year's bull market turned ugly? Analysts point to higher energy prices, the strong greenback (which makes American exports more expensive in foreign markets) and inflation (which is coming down but still too high). But the real culprit has been the relentless rise in bond yields. High interest rates make it more expensive for consumers, businesses and governments to borrow. They also provide competition for equities. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields almost 5%. In short, TINA - There Is No Alternative (to stocks) - is dead. Why have yields risen so sharply? Because - despite all the Fed's interest rate hikes - the U.S. economy refuses to cool off. Consumer spending was much stronger than expected in August. The Fed estimates that GDP grew at more than 3.5% in the third quarter. And there are 9.6 million job openings in this country for every American looking for a job. The Fed has taken interest rates from zero to nearly 5.5% over the last year and a half. But the intended effect - a slowing economy - has not occurred. That means interest rates are likely to stay high for longer. The market is adjusting to this reality. As a result of the slide, investor sentiment has - predictably - turned sharply negative. There is a second reason why some of our stock portfolios have had a difficult year: We use a trailing stop strategy. Trailing stops protect your profits during the good times and your principal during the bad times, making sure a small loss never turns into an unacceptable loss. However, there is a trade-off. In a volatile market, you can get whipsawed. For example, in May, I recommended Globalstar (NYSE: GSAT) to my subscribers - based on heavy insider buying - at $1.05 a share. We stopped out five weeks later with a gain of just 4%. Today the stock - despite the rout in the market - is 30% higher. This limitation is why we don't use stops in our Oxford All-Star Portfolio, our Gone Fishin' Portfolio or our Ten-Baggers of Tomorrow Portfolio in The Oxford Communiqué. [Editor's Note: If you're interested in gaining access to our FIVE model portfolios in the Communiqué, [find more information here]( The downside with those strategies? Without trailing stops, you can end up with less of your profit... or your principal. (Life is all about trade-offs.) Given the lousy tone of the market, what should investors do now? - Don't flee stocks. Remember that every market sell-off eventually morphs into a rally. And no one rings a bell at the bottom. - Recognize that equities aren't tumbling because the economy is too weak but because it's too strong - a positive indicator for corporate earnings this quarter and next. - Recognize that negative investor sentiment is a contrarian signal. History shows that investors are most euphoric near market tops and most pessimistic near market bottoms. - Make sure you diversify beyond common stocks. You should own real estate investment trusts, precious metals, high-grade bonds, high-yield bonds and inflation-adjusted Treasurys (all with short maturities), and foreign equities as well. - Buy only best-of-breed companies. This is no time for flimsy firms with high levels of debt, mediocre earnings or declining market share. Stick with companies with strong cash flows, solid balance sheets, handsome returns on equity and enduring moats around their business. (Think patents, brand names and trademarks.) - Maintain your sell discipline. Whether that is trailing stops or something else, you need to cut your losses short and let your profits run. (Cutting your profits and letting your losses run doesn't work.) - Remember that the best investment returns don't go to the folks with the biggest brains. They go to the ones with the strongest stomachs. They look past the chaotic present and focus on the longer-term future. While this approach will not inoculate us against taking the occasional loss, it does give us unlimited upside potential with limited downside risk. That upside will become more apparent when the market turns around, as it always does eventually. If I had to guess when, I'd say when equity investors stop obsessing over Fed policy and bond yields and start focusing on high-quality franchises with solid fundamentals and durable competitive advantages. When they do, of course, we'll already be there. Just as we were with each downturn over the past 23 years. As Mark Twain pointed out... History may not repeat itself. But it rhymes. Good investing, Alex [Leave a Comment]( [IU 2024]( WEALTH OPPORTUNITIES - [Alexander Green Just Discovered a Little-Known Stock That He Believes Could Be the "Next Great American Super Stock," Following in the Footsteps of Legendary Stocks Like Lululemon, Amazon and Green Mountain Coffee. 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