FANG is an acronym that you hear a lot lately in the financial press. Of course, it stands for: Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google.
These are the new technology driven, market leading, iconic companies that a lot of market participants watch closely. If you remember back in the mid-to-late 1990s, investors referred to Cisco, Dell, Intel and Microsoft as the so-called “Four Horsemen” because of their unquestioned market dominance.

Now we have the FANGs . . .

The market likes fads and cool monikers. And a lot of market participants like to play follow the herd, right up to the cliff. I like to trade with the trend, but I like to catch it as early as possible and then stay with it until it proves that it is over. I don’t like to chase trends or to jump in at the mature phase of a trend. And the FANGs look pretty mature to me. Could they keep going up? Certainly! Am I willing to miss the rest of their run? Absolutely! Because there are other sectors and individual stocks available that are in earlier phases of their trends. There are more great trades available than I can possibly take and I constantly have to prioritize which ones to focus on.

How is this working out? Well, the S&P 500 is up 10.14% for the year. I’ve close 29 trades year-to-date, about 1 per week, in my Stock and Option Picks advisory service, and we are up 13.60%, beating the S&P 500 by over 30%! I’m pleased with those results.
About one-half of those trades were shorts. The advantage to this is that; A) some sectors and stocks are definitely bearish, and B) if we get into a correction, I am positioned nicely to capitalize on it. Remember, the market goes down a lot fast that it goes up!
We have several open trades that still have room to get in and new ones coming out each week. If you’d like to check it out, you can take a 30-day trial for just $39, with a Monday Back Guarantee. Click Here for more information.

We have a big week coming up in the markets. Three out of the four FANG stocks will be reporting earnings:
Facebook: Wednesday, 7/26, Analysts = Buy+ 1.7
Amazon: Thursday, 7/27, Analysts = Buy+ 1.9
Google: Monday, 7/24, Analysts = Buy+ 1.8
Notice the strong Buy recommendations from analysts on all of them. Expectations are high and any hint of disappointment will cause a pretty big reaction.

In addition to these FANG stocks, about one-third of the S&P 500 companies will be reporting earnings this week.
Also, we have the Fed meeting beginning their regular meeting on Tuesday and giving their update Wednesday afternoon.
Friday, second quarter GDP will be reported.

This is a lot of information for the market to absorb. It is likely to be a bit volatile and the case for careful risk management and trade management is stronger than ever.

That is it for this update. If something noteworthy happens, I’ll send out a mid-week update.

Trade safe, keep your winners big and your loser’s small!

Dean