NorthoftheBlue.com

Current 2 Year Yield 80%

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DOW
14.98
+0.13%
11,162.42
NASDAQ
17.24
+0.77%
2,252.13
S&P 500
1.40
+0.11%
1,246.09
10YR
3/32
100 18/32
Yield: 3.8%
OIL
1.00
+0.74%
$137.05
US $
0.0020
-0.0031%
1 EUR = $1.5784
10:43:10 AM ET 07/10/2008 © BigCharts
Washington's solution: Wait it out
Washington's solution: Wait it out
9:50am: How to solve the financial crisis? For the Fed and Treasury, the answer is play for time, pray for markets to turn. more

Commentary: Technical Tales

Yield Picture

Pressed for time? Read two articles that will change your life.

Look at the Index tab "Rules & Results/Planning/Trading Concepts". Read the article titled "How to use our Charts". It will provide a working knowledge of all the terminology you need.

Now go to the "Rules & Regulations" tab and click on "Basic Rules". The "Rules and Results" article will tell you all you need to know about making money.

Yes, life is really that simple, even in a down market.

Even better, go to the "Quick Start" menu and do the download so that you can follow along as we apply how we use these rules.

Consult North of the Blue Experts

... a weekly Guest Column by professional users of North of the Blue's Technical Stock Market Analysis System

Frustration -- Unexpectedly

... V. Bede

August 17, 2008 Chicago, Ill.

Another week and more frustration. No, not just because of the roller coaster market. Think about this:

A solid company pulled out a very strong second quarter, earning $45.4 million on total revenue of $261 million. That was a 42 percent increase in revenue over the same period last year. 42%!

At the end of the quarter the company's backlog of firm orders for delivery within the next year was nearly $572 million, compared with $471 million three months ago That's a 21% plus gain in just one quarter.

The company makes military and law enforcement gear.

In spite of beating wall Street's expectations announcing that it was raising its earnings and sales projections for the year, the stock, which is traded on the NASDAQ exchange, declined more than 6% last week.

The stock is FLIR. I ask you why. Look at FLIR in our charts. Last March 11 the stock began a strong, but not too strong, trend from $24.70 to $45.49 on July 21.

FLIR fell through a recently set Support Level of $41.00. It closed Friday at $39.93.

Could North of the Blue have helped? Yes. One week ago strong buying pushed volume to nearly twice the normal volume. While the price rose, our stochastic pushed over and fell down through 85% -- a sure sign that stops need to be pulled up very tight. It was clear that something was going to happen. Three days before the fall, the stock broke through its channel down and turned red. A sign urging a quick sale. Two days before the big drop, the stock fell through a long term price line. If you had not sold by then, you waited too long.

Lessons learned: Follow the chart, not your heart. I drive by FLIR Systems regularly, whenever I visit Portland. It is an impressive operation and a history of recovery from a long ago fiddling with accounting rules scheme.

So, had one followed the rules by buying in March and selling in July, an investor would have pocketed a gain of $118% in 132 days. Annualized, that is 328% up. Read our charts.

Believe it or not, we do this every month. It more than pays for the $300 quarterly subscription.

So where now? Be very cautious. As you can see by browsing through the IYY chart we posted this week, the total market index has come out of its Red Window as has nearly every other market indicator. But, we have not yet set the "Stochastic W", for which North of the Blue has become famous. We've climbed the first leg and slid back down to the stat of the second or middle leg. We have not yet seen the correction and then the real climb.

So, our company memos are still few but essential. Watch the oil price. It won't last forever and I don't want to have to cover sales at inflated prices. Watch gold. It has taken a downturn after several days of selling. If that selling continues, it could become a very good buy. Keep looking for that Buy Watch selection that has everything going for it.

Our Buy Watch stock of the week is gold in the form of Barrick Gold Corp (ABX). It's a short term hold, of course, but right now worth it.

In order to understand today's market, run through the list in "Dicks-Dexes" using "The Big Picture" charts. A fascinating pattern emerges. And it is not all bleak. It provides reasons for optimism and helps us all to understand the need for patience.

How do we do this, you ask? Go to our web site, www.northoftheblue.com and mouse over the menu selection "Charts and Rules". Then, click on "Basic Rules". Or, go to the"Quick Start" menu which provides download information as well as the basic charts you need to get your analysis underway. With our charts, making money is easier than you think.

Questions? Please direct them to dick@dickbrenneke.com.

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30 yr fixed jumbo mtg 6.75%
5/1 ARM 5.88%
5/1 jumbo ARM 6.41%
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NORTH OF THE BLUE

The Money MachineThe Money Machine at WorkThe Money Machine

On March 12, 2008 we put $100,000 into a single high quality stock -- Boeing (BA)

51 days later we had made 19.2%

That is $19,200 in 7 weeks.

What could you do with that?

The stock went from $72.13 to $85.98 as expected.

That's a 137% annualized return.

We're still holding the stock.

Stick around and we'll show you more.

This single buy more than paid for a one year subscription to North of the Blue.

Updated weekly: last update 5/5/2008. For detailed analysis
join our premium subscription where you get all the details.

 
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About our Recent Gains with North of the Blue

Here's what North of the Blue has done recently: We bought gold about 10 days ago. Not penny stock gold or one of those fly by night gold mines. No, we bought for real gold stocks and ETFs. In the 10 days prior to the end of 2007 our three stocks climbed an average of 8%. Remember, that is 8% in 10, yes ten, days. Some time back we dumped AMGN when it failed to break through an implied resistance line and our blue line. We also decided that anything more for ETR was greed, so it sailed out the door at $118 on the 6th. "You gotta know when to fold 'em." as the old song goes. Our current gold buy is the second round in the last quarter. About two months ago we sold our gold and oil two weeks ago when the stochastics rolled over. That sent Street Tracks Gold (GLD), Barrick Gold (ABX) and iShares Comes Gold Trust (IAU) out the door. So two months ago our three gold stocks put real dollars into our bank account. What did this mean in dollars in cents? Those sales by North of the Blue© netted us 9%, 14% and 27% in our CASH-IN-THE-BANK portfolio. These three sales translate into annualized returns of 212%, 24% and 116%. How are you doing? So here we are with gold again. Our 8% gain in 10 days gives us an annualized return of 288%. After all my years in the business, I don't know what that really means. What I look at is the money I have in my jeans at the end of each day. Do you want to use the tools that produce these returns?Sign up now by clicking here.
Subscriptions Click here
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North of the Blue©

$300 quarterly
Premium Edition
North of the Blue©

Get personalized stock lists.

Get in-depth coverage.

See our buy and sell signals as they occur.

The North of the Blue

Way

The current market gives you all of the reasons to buy into the North of the Blue© stock market technical charting system. We point out not only buy points but, even tougher, sell points.

Picking stocks always begins with situational awareness, a term I learned a lot about when I flew my own aircraft. When you're at the controls of a high performance jet you don't have time to wonder where you are or where you're going or hope you did all your research before you left the ground. There are no "do-over's". The investing world demands the same situational awareness and only NORTH OF THE BLUE© provides the technical assistance this demands.

Which sectors are worth a very hard look today? Use our "ETF" list and see for yourself. Subscribe to North of the Blue© for a month or two and see if your wins don't pay for your $49.95 subscription and then some. If you are a serious investor, take a look at our premium service where we show you quality stocks just before they blast off and the day before they tank. Only $150 gives you a one month view of how we structure and restructure our CASH-IN-THE-BANK (CITB) portfolio. Your subscription gives you real time access to our discussions of how we make our money. You'll see decisions as we make them, not after the fact. Users tell us they wish they had know earlier how simple making money in the market really is.

Why do we call our portfolio "CASH-IN-THE-BANK"? Because many years ago, as I was pointing out our paper investment gains my wife asked the simplest of all questions: How many of these dollars you have made are in our bank account? From that day forward I refuse to consider any gain real until I see the deposit slip showing the money going into my bank account. Life really is that simple.

"Words fail me." How many times have you read that and counted the one or two thousand words following the statement? They don't fail me, but words are sure hard to come by. Charts are another matter, however. "A picture is worth a thousand words" we are all told. Take a look at the 10,000 words the ten charts above contain. Now if you had used North of the Blue©, how many gains could you have seen coming?.

We're investing to win ... You should be too. So, join us as we identify buy and sell points for specific stocks for our Cash-in-the-Bank Portfolio and read the evaluations for the overall market in NORTH OF THE BLUE©.

Our Stock Market Technical Charts are an absolute necessity right now and this is where North of the Blue© shines.  No longer can you buy a stock, put it away and expect to come back later and see how much it has gained.  Now the work starts.  There is no absolute time to hold a stock.  You buy  when the tools show buy signals and sell when they show sell signals.  Should you have any questions about when these are, you can click here or select "Rules and Results/Basic Rules " on our menu.

 

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Watch These Carefully
New Highs
  1. Medical (22) new highs
  2. Business Svc (7)
  3. Banks (6)*
  4. Telecom (4)
  5. Transport (2)
  6. Svgs & Loan (2)*
  7. Insurance (2)*
  8. Elecytronics (2)
  9. Consumer (2)
  10. Comp Software (2)

Updated weekly: last update 8/17/2008. For detailed listing join our premium subscription where you get all the details.
* New to top ten this week.

Leading Sectors
  1. Dow Transportation
  2. Gold
  3. Computer
  4. High Tech
  5. Consumer
  6. Health Care
  7. Russell 2000
  8. S & P 400
  9. Senior Growth
  10. Dow Utilities

Updated weekly: last update 8/17/2008. For detailed listing join our premium subscription where you get all the details.
* New to top ten this week.

Research Courtesy of Investor's Business Daily (IBD)
MarketWatch
WEEKLY ROUNDUP - August 17, 2008

The week's top news and analysis

By MarketWatch

It was a busy week of earnings and other news. But, hanging over the flow of breaking news that included earnings from some of the world's biggest corporate names was a sense that something bigger was afoot. There was a feeling in some quarters that the three-decade-old approach to financial system regulation in the U.S. had undergone a decisive change in direction.

When bastions of the U.S. approach to markets such as Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox asks Congress for more power to oversee investment banks and the New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner says the country needs to be ready to "look at everything" when it comes to the markets, you know something is up.

Of course some will argue that it's debatable how free the U.S. financial system ever really was, especially for the less affluent among us, but nevertheless, it appears that more government involvement in our economy is coming, whether we like it or not.

U.S. stocks wer! e mixed for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 21.41 points or 0.2% to close at 11,370.69 on Friday, and racked up a 1.1% loss for the week. The technology heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (.COMP) rose 30.42 points or 1.3% on Friday to close at 2,310.53. For the week it rose 1.2%. Meanwhile, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) rose 5.22 points or 0.4% to close at 1,257.76 on Friday for a 0.2% loss on the week.

Tune in to MarketWatch.com over the weekend as we offer real-time coverage of events including Congress' special weekend session and other news. Our weekend features include a look at Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang's position as he emerges from his battle with Microsoft and Carl Icahn, the flowering of video games seeking to capitalize on the success of Activision's Guitar Hero and a look at presidential energy policies.

-- Christopher Noble , assistant managing editor.

iTransition
Apple reported a strong rise in profit, good sales of its marquee products such as iPod, iPhone and Mac computers but gave a weaker-than-expected forecast and saw its shares fall heavily. The company forecast a narrowing of margins, which sparked a lot of talk about whether this might follow new product launches or simply a new policy of lower prices. What could the company have up its sleeve? See full story.

Airplane dreams

Boeing (BA), the top aircraft maker in the world, reported a nearly 20% drop in quarterly earnings because it sold fewer of its larger and pricier planes and because of high costs associated with the launch of its newest commercial jet, the 787 Dreamliner. The company expressed optimism about its order book and stood by its financial targets for this year and next. See full story.

Uneasy peace

After weeks of name calling and corporate maneuvering, Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang and billionaire investor Carl Icahn made peace. So what now? Can the two work together to restore confidence in Yahoo's (YHOO) future? Can they figure out how to respond to Microsoft's (MSFT) on-again, off-again overtures? See full story.

Back to school

The weak economy is cutting into back-to-school spending, as consumers struggling with high prices at the pump and the grocery store look for ways to penny pinch in the traditional end-of-summer spending spree. Retailers are bracing for the worst back-to-school season in years. See full story.

Energized about energy

Energy goals put forward by presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are ambitious, difficult to enact and may be setting the candidates -- and the country -- up for failure. On the other hand, the country put a man on the moon, so these goals should be attainable. See full story.

Housing help

The House of Representatives passed a wide-ranging housing bill aimed at shoring up the battered sector of the economy and stabilizing Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE), the two mortgage finance giants that are the linchpins of the U.S. housing market. The next step: action by the Senate this weekend. See full story.

Parallel retail universe

Amazon.com (AMZN) reported that its quarterly profit more than doubled after the company said that it was able to withstand a weakening economy and sell more products. Some of the gains were driven by good exchange rates and one-time items, and margins remained a concern. But overall, investors welcomed the results from the online retail pioneer. See full story.

Cellular growth

AT&T, the country's biggest wireless telecom operator, cemented its position at the top of the cellular heap when it reported a 30% jump in profit thanks to a gain of 1.3 million new customers. The company performed well even though it was battling a weak U.S. economy, a brief interruption in sales of Apple's iPhone and faster losses among its fixed-line customers. See full story.