Stocks lost ground, as corona virus and economic slowdown fears dominated headlines in the recent days. The S&P 500 index has lost a stunning 7.5% since last Wednesday's open. But our five long and five short stock picks were profitable, as they gained almost 2% in the same period! Let's check which stock could magnify S&P's gains in case it rallies, and which stocks would be likely to decline the most if S&P plunges. Here are our stock picks for the Wednesday, February 26 - Tuesday, March 3 period.

The Stock Pick Update for the Wednesday, February 19 - Tuesday, February 25, 2020 period resulted in a gain of 1.97%. The S&P 500 index has lost 7.46%, so our stock picks have been relatively much stronger than the broad stock market. Our short stock picks gained 8.71% and they outperformed the index on the short side. Long stock picks lost 4.78%, but the whole ten-stock-picks portfolio performed incredibly well in time of a stock market breakdown.

If stocks were in a more prolonged downward correction, being able to profit anyway, would be extremely valuable. Of course, it's not the point of our Stock Pick Updates to forecast where the general stock market is likely to move, but rather to provide you with stocks that are likely to generate profits regardless of what the S&P does.

This means that our overall stock-picking performance can be summarized on the chart below. The assumptions are: starting with $100k, no leverage used. The data before Dec 24, 2019 comes from our internal tests and data after that can be verified by individual Stock Pick Updates posted on our website.

Below we include statistics and the details of our three recent updates:

• Feb 25, 2020
  Long Picks (Feb 19 open - Feb 25 close % change): XEC (-7.66%), BSX (-5.67%), NUE (-5.31%), PEG (-2.69%), SPG (-2.59%)
  Short Picks (Feb 19 open - Feb 25 close % change): AEE (-3.55%), CBRE (-8.58%), INTC (-10.03%), SLB (-13.40%), A (-7.97%)
  Average long result: -4.78%, average short result: +8.71%
  Total profit (average): +1.97%
• Feb 18, 2020
  Long Picks (Feb 11 open - Feb 18 close % change): PSX (-2.96%), DD (+1.00%), PNC (-2.96%), NRG (+2.83%), EXR (+3.66%)
  Short Picks (Feb 11 open - Feb 18 close % change): NEE (+3.91%), PLD (+1.76%), AMD (+4.33%), PXD (-2.28%), DOW (-3.92%)
  Average long result: +0.32%, average short result: -0.76%
  Total profit (average): -0.22%
• Feb 11, 2020
  Long Picks (Feb 5 open - Feb 11 close % change): PSX (-0.11%), MS (+1.68%), DD (-1.09%), PEG (-1.98%), NTAP (+3.59%)
  Short Picks (Feb 5 open - Feb 11 close % change): ETR (+1.93%), NOW (-2.72%), PEAK (+0.69%), HAL (-2.07%), STT (+0.91%)
  Average long result: +0.42%, average short result: +0.29%
  Total profit (average): +0.36%

The broad stock market has reached historically high levels recently. The breathtaking correction in December of 2018 was followed by the record-breaking comeback rally. The late October - early November breakout led to another leg higher, as the S&P 500 index broke above 3,300 mark. But the recent sell-off suggests that investors should prepare for volatility. If the market reverses higher, which stocks are going to beat the index? And if it continues lower from here, which stocks are about to outperform on the short side?

We will provide stock trading ideas based on our in-depth technical and fundamental analysis, but since the main point of this publication is to provide the top 5 long and top 5 short candidates (our opinion, not an investment advice) for this week, we will focus solely on the technicals. The latter are simply more useful in case of short-term trades.

We will assume the following: the stocks will be bought or sold short on the opening of today's trading session (February 26) and sold or bought back on the closing of the next Tuesday's trading session (March 3).

First, we will take a look at the recent performance by sector. It may show us which sector is likely to perform best in the near future and which sector is likely to lag. Then, we will select our buy and sell stock picks.

There are eleven stock market sectors: Energy, Materials, Industrials, Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Health Care, Financials, Technology, Communications Services, Utilities and Real Estate. They are further divided into industries, but we will just stick with these main sectors of the stock market.

We will analyze them and their relative performance by looking at the Select Sector SPDR ETF's.

Let's start with our first charts (charts courtesy of www.stockcharts.com).

There's S&P 500's 30-minute chart along with market sector indicators for the past month. The S&P 500 index has lost 5.95% since January 24. The strongest sector was Real Estate XLRE, as it gained 0.66%. The Utilities XLU has lost just 0.18% and Consumer Staples XLP lost 3.12%.

On the other hand, the weakest sector was Energy XLE again, as it lost 13.80%. The Industrials XLI lost 7.22% and Health Care XLV lost 6.78%.

Based on the above, we decided to choose our stock picks for the next week. We will choose our top 3 long and top 3 short candidates using a contrarian approach, and top 2 long and top 2 short candidates using trend-following approach:

Contrarian approach (betting against the recent trend):

• buys: 1 x Energy, 1 x Industrials, 1 x Health Care
• sells: 1 x Real Estate, 1 x Utilities, 1 x Consumer Staples

Trend-following approach:

• buys: 1 x Real Estate, 1 x Utilities
• sells: 1 x Energy, 1 x Industrials

Contrarian approach

Top 3 Buy Candidates

BKR Baker Hughes Company - Energy

• Technically oversold - short-term upward correction play
• Potential resistance level of $20 (upside profit target level)

MMM 3M Co. - Industrials

• Technically oversold - short-term upward correction play
• Positive divergence between the price and RSI indicator
• Potential resistance level of $154-156 (upside profit target level)

PFE Pfizer, Inc. - Health Care

• Technically oversold - short-term upward correction play
• The price is at the support level of $33.50-34.00, marked by previous lows

Summing up, the above contrarian long stock picks are just a part of our whole Stock Pick Update. The Energy, Industrials and Health Care sectors were the weakest since January 24. So that part of our ten long and short stock picks is meant to outperform in the coming days if the broad stock market acts in a different way than before.

We hope you enjoyed reading the above free analysis, and we encourage you to read today's Stock Pick Update - this analysis' full version. There, we include the remaining long and short stock picks for the next week. There's no risk in subscribing right away, because there's a 30-day money back guarantee for all our products, so we encourage you to subscribe today.

• Read more

Let's check which stock could magnify S&P's gains in case it rallies, and which stocks would be likely to decline the most if S&P plunges. Here are our stock picks for the Wednesday, February 19 - Tuesday, February 25 period.

The Stock Pick Update for the Wednesday, February 11 - Tuesday, February 18, 2020 period resulted in a modest loss of 0.22%. The S&P 500 index has lost just 0.01% in the same period. So our stock picks were relatively slightly weaker than the broad stock market. However, our average long result was better than the broad stock market's gauge.

Our last week's short stock picks weren't profitable, as they worsened our overall result, but the stock market has entered a period of short-term uncertainty following recent rally. If stocks were in a more prolonged downward correction, being able to profit anyway, would be extremely valuable. Of course, it's not the point of our Stock Pick Updates to forecast where the general stock market is likely to move, but rather to provide you with stocks that are likely to generate profits regardless of what the S&P does.

This means that our overall stock-picking performance can be summarized on the chart below. The assumptions are: starting with $100k, no leverage used. The data before Dec 24, 2019 comes from our internal tests and data after that can be verified by individual Stock Pick Updates posted on our website.

Below we include statistics and the details of our three recent updates:

• Feb 18, 2020
  Long Picks (Feb 11 open - Feb 18 close % change): PSX (-2.96%), DD (+1.00%), PNC (-2.96%), NRG (+2.83%), EXR (+3.66%)
  Short Picks (Feb 11 open - Feb 18 close % change): NEE (+3.91%), PLD (+1.76%), AMD (+4.33%), PXD (-2.28%), DOW (-3.92%)
  Average long result: +0.32%, average short result: -0.76%
  Total profit (average): -0.22%
• Feb 11, 2020
  Long Picks (Feb 5 open - Feb 11 close % change): PSX (-0.11%), MS (+1.68%), DD (-1.09%), PEG (-1.98%), NTAP (+3.59%)
  Short Picks (Feb 5 open - Feb 11 close % change): ETR (+1.93%), NOW (-2.72%), PEAK (+0.69%), HAL (-2.07%), STT (+0.91%)
  Average long result: +0.42%, average short result: +0.29%
  Total profit (average): +0.36%
• Feb 4, 2020
  Long Picks (Jan 29 open - Feb 4 close % change): SLB (-0.67%), VMC (+2.26%), WFC (-0.34%), CNP (+0.72%), CTSH (+0.94%)
  Short Picks (Jan 29 open - Feb 4 close % change): ATO +0.78%), AAPL (-1.73%), PEAK (-0.11%), KMI (+0.28%, ex div. -$0.25), NEM (-0.16%)
  Average long result: +0.58%, average short result: +0.19%
  Total profit (average): +0.39%

The broad stock market has reached historically high levels recently. The breathtaking correction in December of 2018 was followed by the record-breaking comeback rally. The late October - early November breakout led to another leg higher, as the S&P 500 index broke above 3,300 mark. But will the rally continue? If the market goes higher, which stocks are going to beat the index? And if it reverses down from here, which stocks are about to outperform on the short side?

We will provide stock trading ideas based on our in-depth technical and fundamental analysis, but since the main point of this publication is to provide the top 5 long and top 5 short candidates (our opinion, not an investment advice) for this week, we will focus solely on the technicals. The latter are simply more useful in case of short-term trades.

We will assume the following: the stocks will be bought or sold short on the opening of today's trading session (February 19) and sold or bought back on the closing of the next Tuesday's trading session (February 25).

First, we will take a look at the recent performance by sector. It may show us which sector is likely to perform best in the near future and which sector is likely to lag. Then, we will select our buy and sell stock picks.

There are eleven stock market sectors: Energy, Materials, Industrials, Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Health Care, Financials, Technology, Communications Services, Utilities and Real Estate. They are further divided into industries, but we will just stick with these main sectors of the stock market.

We will analyze them and their relative performance by looking at the Select Sector SPDR ETF's.

Let's start with our first charts (charts courtesy of www.stockcharts.com).

There's S&P 500's 30-minute chart along with market sector indicators for the past month. The S&P 500 index has gained 1.62% since January 17. The strongest sector was the Utilities XLU, as it gained 7.06%. The Real Estate XLRE gained 5.84% and the Technology XLK gained 5.29%.

On the other hand, the weakest sector was the Energy XLE, as it lost 9.06%. The Health Care XLV lost 0.89% and the Materials XLB lost 0.84%.

Based on the above, we decided to choose our stock picks for the next week. We will choose our top 3 long and top 3 short candidates using a contrarian approach, and top 2 long and top 2 short candidates using trend-following approach:

Contrarian approach (betting against the recent trend):

• buys: 1 x Energy, 1 x Health Care, 1 x Materials
• sells: 1 x Utilities, 1 x Real Estate, 1 x Technology

Trend-following approach:

• buys: 1 x Utilities, 1 x Real Estate
• sells: 1 x Energy, 1 x Health Care

Contrarian approach

Top 3 Buy Candidates

XEC Cimarex Energy Co. - Energy

• Declining wedge pattern - potential upward reversal
• Technically oversold - short-term correction play
• Potential resistance level of $42-44

BSX Boston Scientific Corp. - Health Care

• The price remains above support level of $41.5-42.0
• Potential breakout above month-long downward trend line
• Potential resistance level of $43.5-44.5 (upside profit target level)

NUE Nucor Corp. - Materials

• Potential breakout above declining wedge pattern
• Positive technical divergences
• The price bounces off support level of $47

Summing up, the above contrarian long stock picks are just a part of our whole Stock Pick Update. The Energy, Materials and Health Care sectors were the weakest since January 17. So that part of our ten long and short stock picks is meant to outperform in the coming days if the broad stock market acts in a different way than before.

We hope you enjoyed reading the above free analysis, and we encourage you to read today's Stock Pick Update - this analysis' full version. There, we include the remaining long and short stock picks for the next week. There's no risk in subscribing right away, because there's a 30-day money back guarantee for all our products, so we encourage you to subscribe today.

• Read more

Let's check which stock could magnify S&P's gains in case it rallies, and which stocks would be likely to decline the most if S&P plunges. Here are our stock picks for the Wednesday, February 12 - Tuesday, February 18 period.

The Stock Pick Update for the Wednesday, February 5 - Tuesday, February 11, 2020 period resulted in a gain of 0.36%. The S&P 500 index has gained 0.99% in the same period. So our stock picks were relatively slightly weaker than the broad stock market. However, both our long stock picks and short stock picks were profitable. Just imagine what long-term advantage we would have when stocks enter a more prolonged downward correction!

Below we include statistics and the details of the previous updates. Only the updates for week-long periods since December 24 are verified by the alert's release on our website, but before we decided to make it available to you, we tested our approach and our stock picks performed very well:

• Feb 11, 2020
  Long Picks (Feb 5 open - Feb 11 close % change): PSX (-0.11%), MS (+1.68%), DD (-1.09%), PEG (-1.98%), NTAP (+3.59%)
  Short Picks (Feb 5 open - Feb 11 close % change): ETR (+1.93%), NOW (-2.72%), PEAK (+0.69%), HAL (-2.07%), STT (+0.91%)
  Average long result: +0.42%, average short result: +0.29%
  Total profit (average): +0.36%
• Feb 4, 2020
  Long Picks (Jan 29 open - Feb 4 close % change): SLB (-0.67%), VMC (+2.26%), WFC (-0.34%), CNP (+0.72%), CTSH (+0.94%)
  Short Picks (Jan 29 open - Feb 4 close % change): ATO +0.78%), AAPL (-1.73%), PEAK (-0.11%), KMI (+0.28%, ex div. -$0.25), NEM (-0.16%)
  Average long result: +0.58%, average short result: +0.19%
  Total profit (average): +0.39%
• Jan 28, 2020
  Long Picks (Jan 22 open - Jan 28 close % change): HFC (-2.67%), DD (-6.12%), BEN (-2.34%), XLNX (-3.60%), DIS (-4.21%)
  Short Picks (Jan 22 open - Jan 28 close % change): AAPL (-0.28%), FB (-2.03%), HST (-4.09%), COP (-4.11%), WRK (-3.00%)
  Average long result: -3.79%, average short result: +2.70%
  Total profit (average): -0.54%
• Jan 21, 2020
  Long Picks: DD, CINF, CHD, CSCO, CTL
  Short Picks: AMD, FB, IRM, SHW, COF
  Average long result: +3.87%, average short result: -2.61%
  Total profit (average): +0.63%
• Jan 14, 2020
  Long Picks: VTR, COST, ECL, COG, CSCO
  Short Picks: PXD, AMD, VFC, AVB, PEP
  Average long result: +1.42%, average short result: +0.79%
  Total profit (average): +1.10%
• Jan 7, 2020
  Long Picks: GD, CHRW, CTL, CLX, CSCO
  Short Picks: PM, ANSS, HST, JCI, EA
  Average long result: -1.15%, average short result: +0.97%
  Total profit (average): -0.09%
• Dec 24, 2019
  Long Picks: VTR, CHRW, CF, IDXX, CINF
  Short Picks: LLY, MS, AES, DRE, AME
  Average long result: +1.12%, average short result: -1.31%
  Total profit (average): -0.10%
• Dec 17, 2019
  Average long result: +2.45%, average short result: -1.69%
  Total profit (average): +0.38%
• Dec 10, 2019
  Average long result: +0.87%, average short result: +1.30%
  Total profit (average): +1.08%
• Dec 03, 2019
  Average long result: -0.03%, average short result: +1.55%
  Total profit (average): +0.76%
• Nov 26, 2019
  Average long result: +1.89%, average short result: -0.50%
  Total profit (average): +0.69%
• Nov 19, 2019
  Average long result: 1.08%, average short result: -1.50%
  Total profit (average): -0.21%

The broad stock market has reached historically high levels recently. The breathtaking correction in December of 2018 was followed by the record-breaking comeback rally. The late October - early November breakout led to another leg higher, as the S&P 500 index broke above 3,300 mark. But will the rally continue? If the market goes higher, which stocks are going to beat the index? And if it reverses down from here, which stocks are about to outperform on the short side?

We will provide stock trading ideas based on our in-depth technical and fundamental analysis, but since the main point of this publication is to provide the top 5 long and top 5 short candidates (our opinion, not an investment advice) for this week, we will focus solely on the technicals. The latter are simply more useful in case of short-term trades.

We will assume the following: the stocks will be bought or sold short on the opening of today's trading session (January 2) and sold or bought back on the closing of the next Tuesday's trading session (January 7).

First, we will take a look at the recent performance by sector. It may show us which sector is likely to perform best in the near future and which sector is likely to lag. Then, we will select our buy and sell stock picks.

There are eleven stock market sectors: Energy, Materials, Industrials, Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Health Care, Financials, Technology, Communications Services, Utilities and Real Estate. They are further divided into industries, but we will just stick with these main sectors of the stock market.

We will analyze them and their relative performance by looking at the Select Sector SPDR ETF's.

Let's start with our first charts (charts courtesy of www.stockcharts.com).

There's S&P 500's 30-minute chart along with market sector indicators for the past month. The S&P 500 index has gained 2.54% since January 10. The strongest sector was the Utilities XLU, as it gained 7.60%. The Real Estate XLRE gained 6.87% and the Technology XLK gained 6.50%.

On the other hand, the weakest sector was the Energy XLE, as it lost 9.69%. The Materials XLB gained 0.97% and the Financials XLF gained just 0.58%.

Based on the above, we decided to choose our stock picks for the next week. We will choose our top 3 long and top 3 short candidates using a contrarian approach, and top 2 long and top 2 short candidates using trend-following approach:

Contrarian approach (betting against the recent trend):

• buys: 1 x Energy, 1 x Materials, 1 x Financials
• sells: 1 x Utilities, 1 x Real Estate, 1 x Technology

Trend-following approach:

• buys: 1 x Utilities, 1 x Real Estate
• sells: 1 x Energy, 1 x Materials

Contrarian approach

Top 3 Buy Candidates

PSX Phillips 66 - Energy

• Technical oversold conditions
• Upward correction play
• Potential resistance level of $94-96

DD DuPont de Nemours, Inc. - Materials

• Technically oversold - short-term correction play
• Positive bullish Harami pattern
• Potential resistance level of $55-57 (upside profit target level)

PNC PNC Financial Services Gr - Financials

• Short-term uptrend
• Breakout above bull flag pattern
• Potential resistance level of $160

We hope you enjoyed reading the above free analysis, and we encourage you to read today's Stock Pick Update - this analysis' full version. There, we include the remaining long and short stock picks for the next week. There's no risk in subscribing right away, because there's a 30-day money back guarantee for all our products, so we encourage you to subscribe today.

• Read more

Let's check which stock could magnify S&P's gains in case it rallies, and which stocks would be likely to decline the most if S&P plunges. Here are our stock picks for the Wednesday, February 5 - Tuesday, February 11 period.

The Stock Pick Update for the Wednesday, January 29 - Tuesday, February 4, 2020 period resulted in a gain of 0.39%. The S&P 500 index has gained 0.25% in the same period. So our stock picks were relatively stronger than the broad stock market. Just imagine what long-term advantage we would have when stocks enter a more prolonged downward correction!

Below we include statistics and the details of the previous updates. Only the updates for week-long periods since December 24 are verified by the alert's release on our website, but before we decided to make it available to you, we tested our approach and our stock picks performed very well:

• Feb 4, 2020
  Long Picks (Jan 29 open - Feb 4 close % change): SLB (-0.67%), VMC (+2.26%), WFC (-0.34%), CNP (+0.72%), CTSH (+0.94%)
  Short Picks (Jan 29 open - Feb 4 close % change): ATO (+0.78%), AAPL (-1.73%), PEAK (-0.11%), KMI (+0.28%, ex div. -$0.25), NEM (-0.16%)
  Average long result: +0.58%, average short result: +0.19%
  Total profit (average): +0.39%
• Jan 28, 2020
  Long Picks (Jan 22 open - Jan 28 close % change): HFC (-2.67%), DD (-6.12%), BEN (-2.34%), XLNX (-3.60%), DIS (-4.21%)
  Short Picks (Jan 22 open - Jan 28 close % change): AAPL (-0.28%), FB (-2.03%), HST (-4.09%), COP (-4.11%), WRK (-3.00%)
  Average long result: +3.87%, average short result: -2.61%
  Total profit (average): +0.63%
• Jan 21, 2020
  Long Picks: DD, CINF, CHD, CSCO, CTL
  Short Picks: AMD, FB, IRM, SHW, COF
  Average long result: +3.87%, average short result: -2.61%
  Total profit (average): +0.63%
• Jan 14, 2020
  Long Picks: VTR, COST, ECL, COG, CSCO
  Short Picks: PXD, AMD, VFC, AVB, PEP
  Average long result: +1.42%, average short result: +0.79%
  Total profit (average): +1.10%
• Jan 7, 2020
  Long Picks: GD, CHRW, CTL, CLX, CSCO
  Short Picks: PM, ANSS, HST, JCI, EA
  Average long result: -1.15%, average short result: +0.97%
  Total profit (average): -0.09%
• Dec 24, 2019
  Long Picks: VTR, CHRW, CF, IDXX, CINF
  Short Picks: LLY, MS, AES, DRE, AME
  Average long result: +1.12%, average short result: -1.31%
  Total profit (average): -0.10%
• Dec 17, 2019
  Average long result: +2.45%, average short result: -1.69%
  Total profit (average): +0.38%
• Dec 10, 2019
  Average long result: +0.87%, average short result: +1.30%
  Total profit (average): +1.08%
• Dec 03, 2019
  Average long result: -0.03%, average short result: +1.55%
  Total profit (average): +0.76%
• Nov 26, 2019
  Average long result: +1.89%, average short result: -0.50%
  Total profit (average): +0.69%
• Nov 19, 2019
  Average long result: 1.08%, average short result: -1.50%
  Total profit (average): -0.21%

The broad stock market has reached historically high levels recently. The breathtaking correction in December of 2018 was followed by the record-breaking comeback rally. The late October - early November breakout led to another leg higher, as the S&P 500 index broke above 3,300 mark. But will the rally continue? If the market goes higher, which stocks are going to beat the index? And if it reverses down from here, which stocks are about to outperform on the short side?

We will provide stock trading ideas based on our in-depth technical and fundamental analysis, but since the main point of this publication is to provide the top 5 long and top 5 short candidates (our opinion, not an investment advice) for this week, we will focus solely on the technicals. The latter are simply more useful in case of short-term trades.

We will assume the following: the stocks will be bought or sold short on the opening of today's trading session (January 2) and sold or bought back on the closing of the next Tuesday's trading session (January 7).

First, we will take a look at the recent performance by sector. It may show us which sector is likely to perform best in the near future and which sector is likely to lag. Then, we will select our buy and sell stock picks.

There are eleven stock market sectors: Energy, Materials, Industrials, Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Health Care, Financials, Technology, Communications Services, Utilities and Real Estate. They are further divided into industries, but we will just stick with these main sectors of the stock market.

We will analyze them and their relative performance by looking at the Select Sector SPDR ETF's.

Let's start with our first charts (charts courtesy of www.stockcharts.com).

There's S&P 500's 30-minute chart along with market sector indicators for the past month. The S&P 500 index has gained 1.23% since January 3. The strongest sector was the Utilities XLU, as it gained 7.38%. The Technology XLK gained 6.15% and the Real Estate XLRE gained 4.14%.

On the other hand, the weakest sector was the Energy XLE, as it lost 12.63%. The Financials XLF lost 1.99%, and the Materials XLB lost 1.35%.

Based on the above, we decided to choose our stock picks for the next week. We will choose our top 3 long and top 3 short candidates using a contrarian approach, and top 2 long and top 2 short candidates using trend-following approach:

Contrarian approach (betting against the recent trend):

• buys: 1 x Energy, 1 x Financials, 1 x Materials
• sells: 1 x Utilities, 1 x Technology, 1 x Real Estate

Trend-following approach:

• buys: 1 x Utilities, 1 x Technology
• sells: 1 x Energy, 1 x Financials

Contrarian approach

Top 3 Buy Candidates

PSX Phillips 66 - Energy

• Technical oversold conditions
• Upward correction play
• Potential resistance level of $94-96

MS Morgan Stanley - Financials

• Breakout above short-term downward trend line
• Potential upside price target of $56-57

DD DuPont de Nemours, Inc. - Materials

• Technically oversold - short-term correction play
• Positive bullish Harami pattern
• Potential resistance level of $55-57

We hope you enjoyed reading the above free analysis, and we encourage you to read today's Stock Pick Update - this analysis' full version. There, we include the remaining long and short stock picks for the next week. There's no risk in subscribing right away, because there's a 30-day money back guarantee for all our products, so we encourage you to subscribe today.

• Read more

Let's check which stock could magnify S&P's gains in case it rallies, and which stocks would be likely to decline the most if S&P plunges. Here are our stock picks for the Wednesday, January 29 - Tuesday, February 4 period.

The Stock Pick Update for the Thursday, January 22 - Tuesday, January 28, 2020 period resulted in a loss of 0.54%. The S&P 500 index has lost 1.62% in the same period. So our stock picks were relatively stronger than the broad stock market. Just imagine what long-term advantage we would have when stocks enter a more prolonged downward correction!

Below we include statistics and the details of the previous updates. Only the updates for week-long periods since December 24 are verified by the alert's release on our website, but before we decided to make it available to you, we tested our approach and our stock picks performed very well:

• Jan 28, 2020
  Long Picks (Jan 22 open - Jan 28 close % change): HFC (-2.67%), DD (-6.12%), BEN (-2.34%), XLNX (-3.60%), DIS (-4.21%)
  Short Picks (Jan 22 open - Jan 28 close % change): AAPL (-0.28%), FB (-2.03%), HST (-4.09%), COP (-4.11%), WRK (-3.00%)
  Average long result: +3.87%, average short result: -2.61%
  Total profit (average): +0.63%
• Jan 21, 2020
  Long Picks: DD, CINF, CHD, CSCO, CTL
  Short Picks: AMD, FB, IRM, SHW, COF
  Average long result: +3.87%, average short result: -2.61%
  Total profit (average): +0.63%
• Jan 14, 2020
  Long Picks: VTR, COST, ECL, COG, CSCO
  Short Picks: PXD, AMD, VFC, AVB, PEP
  Average long result: +1.42%, average short result: +0.79%
  Total profit (average): +1.10%
• Jan 7, 2020
  Long Picks: GD, CHRW, CTL, CLX, CSCO
  Short Picks: PM, ANSS, HST, JCI, EA
  Average long result: -1.15%, average short result: +0.97%
  Total profit (average): -0.09%
• Dec 24, 2019
  Long Picks: VTR, CHRW, CF, IDXX, CINF
  Short Picks: LLY, MS, AES, DRE, AME
  Average long result: +1.12%, average short result: -1.31%
  Total profit (average): -0.10%
• Dec 17, 2019
  Long Picks: WMT, FAST, SEE, ZTS, SLB
  Short Picks: BMY, PSX, SST, LW, EMR
  Average long result: +2.45%, average short result: -1.69%
  Total profit (average): +0.38%
• Dec 10, 2019
  Long Picks: PSA, OXY, DE, ILMN, TTWO
  Short Picks: ZTS, DIS, LW, WELL, PSX
  Average long result: +0.87%, average short result: +1.30%
  Total profit (average): +1.08%
• Dec 03, 2019
  Long Picks: PSA, EXC, FANG, ILMN, FLT
  Short Picks: ABBV, NVDA, CHTR, WELL, AEP
  Average long result: -0.03%, average short result: +1.55%
  Total profit (average): +0.76%
• Nov 26, 2019
  Long Picks: VTR, YUM, HAL, ADI, CME
  Short Picks: MSFT, JPM, ABT, WELL, LOW
  Average long result: +1.89%, average short result: -0.50%
  Total profit (average): +0.69%
• Nov 19, 2019
  Long Picks: PSA, DUK, EBAY, MMC, MMM
  Short Picks: C, CAT, TXN, PLD, SO
  Average long result: 1.08%, average short result: -1.50%
  Total profit (average): -0.21%

The broad stock market has reached historically high levels recently. The breathtaking correction in December of 2018 was followed by the record-breaking comeback rally. The late October - early November breakout led to another leg higher, as the S&P 500 index broke above the 3,300 mark. But will the rally continue? If the market goes higher, which stocks are going to beat the index? And if it reverses down from here, which stocks are about to outperform on the short side?

We will provide stock trading ideas based on our in-depth technical and fundamental analysis, but since the main point of this publication is to provide the top 5 long and top 5 short candidates (our opinion, not an investment advice) for this week, we will focus solely on the technicals. The latter are simply more useful in case of short-term trades.

We will assume the following: the stocks will be bought or sold short on the opening of today's trading session (January 2) and sold or bought back on the closing of the next Tuesday's trading session (January 7).

First, we will take a look at the recent performance by sector. It may show us which sector is likely to perform best in the near future and which sector is likely to lag. Then, we will select our buy and sell stock picks.

There are eleven stock market sectors: Energy, Materials, Industrials, Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Health Care, Financials, Technology, Communications Services, Utilities and Real Estate. They are further divided into industries, but we will just stick with these main sectors of the stock market.

We will analyze them and their relative performance by looking at the Select Sector SPDR ETF's.

Let's start with our first charts (charts courtesy of www.stockcharts.com).

There's S&P 500's 30-minute chart along with market sector indicators for the past month. The S&P 500 index has gained 1.13% since December 27. The strongest sector was the Utilities XLU, as it gained 6.67%. The Technology XLK gained 5.44% and the Real Estate XLRE gained 4.20%.

On the other hand, the weakest sector was the Energy XLE, as it lost 8.09%. The Materials XLB lost 3.70%, and the Financials XLF lost 1.85%.

Based on the above, we decided to choose our stock picks for the next week. We will choose our top 3 long and top 3 short candidates using a contrarian approach, and top 2 long and top 2 short candidates using the trend-following approach:

Contrarian approach (betting against the recent trend):

• buys: 1 x Energy, 1 x Materials, 1 x Financials
• sells: 1 x Utilities, 1 x Technology, 1 x Real Estate

Trend-following approach:

• buys: 1 x Utilities, 1 x Technology
• sells: 1 x Energy, 1 x Materials

Contrarian approach

Top 3 Buy Candidates

SLB Schlumberger Ltd. - Energy

The SLB stock has been trading within a strong downtrend recently. The stock is one of the most technically oversold in its sector. So it is our upward correction play. If the market bounces of a support level of around $33.5, it could get back to the previously broken support level of $35.5-36.0.

VMC Vulcan Materials Co. - Materials

The Vulcan Materials Co. stock trades within a medium-term consolidation. But we can see a month-long wedge pattern and the market could break higher out of it. The nearest important resistance level is at around $144-145.

WFC Wells Fargo & Co. - Financials

The WFC stock was extending its downtrend recently. However, we can see a bottoming wedge pattern along with some positive RSI indicator divergence and the oversold condition. So it is another upward correction play in our Stock Picks portfolio.

We hope you enjoyed reading the above free analysis, and we encourage you to read today's Stock Pick Update - this analysis' full version. There, we include the remaining long and short stock picks for the next week. There's no risk in subscribing right away, because there's a 30-day money back guarantee for all our products, so we encourage you to subscribe today.

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