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When you hear the expression "fear of missing out," better known as FOMO, aside from images of jumping out of planes or bungee jumping (if that's still a thing), do you ever think of investing?
Well, that's exactly what's going on with the market right now - FOMO. However, only a month ago, professionals like me were hedging against this market. And for good reason.
It really was the smart money move to make at the time. Not only had the yield curve inverted, but earnings reports were getting ready to hit the wires, and geopolitical tensions like the trade war were making headlines right and left.
The risks were stacking up.
Then, within a week or so, things changed faster than a set of tires at the Indianapolis Speedway on Memorial Day weekend. The bond market gave forgiveness with higher rates. Earnings beat lowered expectations, but nonetheless still beat them. The trade war... well, it's still hanging in the balances, but moving towards something that resembles a deal.
We're now ratcheting to new highs daily.
Getting back to the professionals, it looks like hedge funds and active managers are now moving from the sidelines back into stocks, which is fueling the current rally. The chart I'm going to be showing you in a minute is one representation of this activity.
Overall, the continued feeling of FOMO should be considered a new catalyst for the market to move higher, which is one of the reasons that I've been repeating one of my Ten Commandments of Trading, "Don't fight the tape!"
Let's look at exactly how we can play this market and avoid getting left behind...
About the Author
Chris Johnson is a highly regarded equity and options analyst who has spent much of his nearly 30-year market career designing and interpreting complex models to help investment firms transform millions of data points into impressive gains for clients.
At heart Chris is a quant - like the "rocket scientists" of investing - with a specialty in applying advanced mathematics like stochastic calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, and statistics to Wall Street's data-rich environment.
He began building his proprietary models in 1998, analyzing about 2,000 records per day. Today, that database, which Chris designed and coded from scratch, analyzes a staggering 700,000 records per day. It's the secret behind his track record.
Chris holds degrees in finance, statistics, and accounting. He worked as a licensed broker for 11 years before taking on the role of Director of Quantitative Analysis at a big-name equity and options research firm for eight years. He recently served as Director of Research of a Cleveland-based investment firm responsible for hundreds of millions in AUM. He is also the Founder/CIO of ETF Advisory Research Partners since 2007, noted for its groundbreaking work in Behavioral Valuation systems. Their research is widely read by leaders in the RIA business.
Chris is ranked in the top 99.3% of financial bloggers and top 98.6% of overall experts by TipRanks, the track record registry of financial analysts dating back to January 2009.
He is a frequent commentator on financial markets for CNBC, Fox, Bloomberg TV, and CBS Radio and has been featured in Barron's, USA Today, Newsweek, and The Wall Street Journal, and numerous books.
Today, Chris is the editor of Night Trader and Penny Hawk. He also contributes to Money Morning as the Quant Analysis Specialist.