This is Why We Play the Game

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. – Albert Einstein

It's hard to beat a person who never gives up. – Babe Ruth

In sports when you try to size up two teams and predict a winner, an analyst will look at the stats the personnel, the momentum a given team might have, the intangibles, etc. Everything can look straight forward in picking a winner, but when those two teams step on the field, anything can happen.

The same occurs with the stock market. With the Republicans stealing a seat from the Democrats yesterday, all seemed set for a bit of a rally today. While healthcare tocks did rally for a short time this morning, it was the rising dollar, news out of China and results from IBM that started the slide. Big Blue beat earnings estimates and raised its forecast but had weak revenue. Authorities in China are looking to put a lid on inflation, which helped drive the dollar today.

The boys over at the Motley Fool Stock Advisor want to tell you “Why You’re Winning.” To them it’s pretty simple. If you’re reading their newsletter and following their recommendations, then you are doing very well. The Gardner brothers have done very well for themselves. This is their 95th release with each of them making separate recommendations in each edition. If you have followed David’s picks all this time, you would have seen 66% returns. While Tom is losing to his brother, he has brought in a very respectable 41% return. The S&P over the same timeframe…3%. Those numbers speak for themselves.

Kevin Kennedy’s Coolcat Total Stock Market Report keeps you up to date on how their Larger Stocks & Total Stock Market portfolios are doing. This quick update keeps you in the loop if you are following the models. Here you will see Kennedy added a position to the LS model and two stocks to the TSM model.

Earnings season is in full swing and will have an effect on the day. Tomorrow we have some big names on tap. Look for Burlington Northern (BNI), American Express (AXP), Google (GOOG), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Xerox (XRX) as well as a couple airlines and over 90 others. May they all work out well for you and your portfolio.

For more information, please go to http://www.zepinvest.com.

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