Terry's Question: Consumer Staples and Healthcare

Traditionally, Wall Street has viewed consumer stables and healthcare as defensive plays during Bear Markets. I would agree, with the caveat that the returns will not be as great as small cap high tech companies during the end of the year rally. Consumer staples and healthcare are not exciting to me but you don't need excitement to make money. You just need a stock to go up in price.

If you are ready interested in consumer staples and healthcare, check out the sector rankings at clearstation.com. You will learn more about retail stock technicals than you could possibly imagine. At the top of the right-hand column, Clearstation.com provides an A+ analysis of hot sectors with details galore. Consumer cyclicals are hot right now.

Once again, everyone has to develop their style as an investor and trader. I reviewed a few charts (consumer goods) and the prospects did not excite me. When you have to strain to see opportunity, its best to move on. On the other hand, the opportunity in gold and silver practically jumps off of the page. The same goes for El Paso.

If I were a Hedge Fund manager, the effort expended coupled with the risk/reward calculation and general market conditions wouldn't cut it for me on consumer staples and healthcare. There are exceptions to this rule but it would take alot of digging to unearth the gems. Its easier, as Jim Rogers would say, to find setups where you are practically picking money off of the floor (i.e., December 1, 2010).

As always, thanks Terry for a great question!

Your lunch time writer,

Wink

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