Inside The Stock Market ...trends, cross-currents, and outlook

Looking to profit from the boom in domestic natural gas production? Dave Kurzman examines the opportunities and potential pitfalls in Shale gas, and finds some viable investment opportunities, but urges caution.

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It’s been quite awhile since we’ve engaged in target practice (... and considering my 20/300 vision, the world is a much safer place for it).

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Stock markets across much of Europe are priced cheaply enough that investors might need very little incentive to get in, attempting to reap respectable returns.

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High Quality Stocks outperformed their Low Quality comparators in the second quarter, and we find signs that a new High Quality Cycle is starting to take off.

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Housing data is so far following the picture-perfect path of a bubble aftermath. Based on other bubbles, the next cyclical top in housing will likely occur at astonishingly low levels.

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In mid-May, we re-initiated a short position across all three tactical funds in U.S. Treasury bonds.

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Mutual fund outflow played significant role in Major Trend deterioration. There have been about 6 1/2 months where the four week average has shown net inflow to U.S. equity funds, but outflow is now accelerating as three of last four weeks have seen net outflow.

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Periods of accelerating inflation generally lead to lagging stock market performance.

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For now, net equity exposure in both the Core and Asset Allocation Portfolios will remain around 60%, as we wait to see what happens to this analysis in coming weeks.

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Significant pull-back in High Beta stocks, but the weakening bid does not necessarily spell the end of the bull market.

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Market in gear, with almost all market indices hitting new highs in tandem. Would be unusual for a market correction with this type of uniformity.

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U.S. capacity utilization rate is more than four percentage points below the magic 82% threshold, yet factory pricing pressures are already through the roof.

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Dave Kurzman, Leuthold Clean Tech guru, outlines the solar companies which are in the best and worst positions for potential mergers or acquisitions.

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Jun Zhu examines the use of Emerging Market Mutual Fund Flow as a sentiment indicator. It works best as a buy signal, but is not bad as a sell signal. Currently neither on a buy or sell.

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Don’t expect a summer swoon, but stocks may make little progress until fall. Most of our bull market targets discussed in 2009—early 2010 have been achieved with the exception of a return to median bull market peaks based on normalized earnings (only 1.5% away).

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With the new ISM figures for March, the Liquidity Index has moved into the maximum negative zone with a reading just below the bearish –20 threshold.

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While Low Quality stocks have been beating High Quality, performance was on par in Q1. High Quality cheap relative to Low Quality and the tide may be turning.

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Asset allocation portfolios continue to hold big positions in Emerging Markets. Jun Zhu presents an initial study exploring the use of Emerging Market Closed End Funds historical premium/discount levels as a predictor of future Emerging Market performance.

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Steps are falling into place for the U.S. market to climb another 15-20% into 2012.

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VLT has turned up for most market indices. Even though it is still above the zero line, history shows that this signals an extension of the bull market.

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