Coal Stocks: Burning It Up

Last week Coal stocks nearly make a worst to first move and reversed a technical analysis sell signal into a buy signal. That’s the first time we can remember that combination happening in a long, long time.

Yesterday the S&P 500 followed the NASDAQ into positive territory for the year. This is good news for investors as long as it lasts. We expect to see most sectors in the green again next week as the indexes should continue to rise a bit before finding the next level of resistance.

Here are the past week’s top and worst performing sectors:

Performance versus the S&P 500 Rank Industry % Return +/- the S&P % up/down 1 COAL 11.56% 13.02 % 2 PAPER 9.86% 11.29% 3 ALTERNATE ENERGY SOURCES 8.19% 9.60% 4 CONSUMER PROD-MISC STAPLES 6.76% 8.15% 5 SOAPS & COSMETICS 5.64% 7.02% 6 BEVERAGES 5.48% 6.85%

Here are the week’s poorest performing industries:

Performance versus the S&P 500 Rank Industry % Return +/- the S&P % up/down 59 of 59 PHOTO EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES -8.92% -7.73% 58 TRANSPORTATION-AIR -4.82% -3.58% 57 TOBACCO -2.31% -1.04% 56 REAL ESTATE -2.18% -0.90% 55 BANKS & THRIFTS -1.08% -0.21% 54 BUILDING PRODUCTS -1.08% 0.21%

According to our technical analysis, investors might look more favorably on value stocks and less so on growth stocks. In addition to value stocks, these sectors posted new buy signals:

• Aerospace Stocks
• Hotel Stocks
• Electronic Office Equipment Stocks
• Personal Goods Stocks

Much like growth stocks, these stock charts are warning of underperformance in the near-term:

• Computer Services Stocks
• Retail Stocks
• General Retailer Stocks

Since both retail stocks and general retailer stocks have made nice runs, investors might be wise to reallocate some of those dollars to sectors with new technical analysis buy signals.

Comments

[PastTense:]

Buy hotel stocks?

Well, I guess if you are think we are at the beginning of a strong economic recovery.

But if not, I would think this would be an area to avoid.

May 05 03:45 PM

[billp37:]

Coal industry is mounting a PR campaign.

"80 percent of New Mexico's electricity is generated from coal.
New Mexico is an exporter of coal to other states.
The state's three coal fueled electricity generating plants employ 800 people, with another 1,300 employed in coal mines.
By 2015, coal generation is projected to increase New Mexico's economic output by $14.4 billion, while creating $5.5 billion in personal income.
Over the past 35 years, America's coal-based electricity providers have invested more than $50 billion in technologies to reduce emissions. This has resulted in coal plants built today being 77 percent cleaner than those built in 1970."

home.comcast.net/~bpayne37/pnmelectric...

May 06 09:23 AM