Staying Out Of Sellers Way

That's no way to start out a big week of earnings. Apparently, the urge is to sell ahead of the earnings news as the analysts cut down some stocks, fears that the credit crisis is not completely over, and diminished expectations for a rate cut make the rounds. Fortunately, the volume is mixed and we may see a modest rebound this afternoon.

Given my bad read in the premarket, I don't trust my feel for the tape today. As such, I'm doing my best to stay out of the sellers way while trying to draw up a game plan for the rest of the week. I have a number of watchlist stocks scheduled to report over the next few days and I've been setting price alerts around those same stocks ahead of that news. Also, it is interesting to see which sectors have maintained a high number of stocks hitting new highs (oil & gas, chemicals/fertilizers, precious metals, heavy construction) even amid today's weakness.

As many of you know, I'm not a big fan of trying to get ahead of earnings, especially given the gains many stocks have enjoyed from the August lows. If I have to trade, I'll usually stick to situations where I think the valuation can support it. For example, the PEG filter of stock screen machine stocks I shared on September 25th continues to be a strategy I find quite helpful. As of today, here's how those stocks have fared since last month's post:

For what it is worth, the same PEG filter turns up the following 15 stocks today.....[READ]