The broad stock market has slightly extended its uptrend in the last five trading days (May 20 - May 26). Two months ago on March 23, the S&P 500 index sold off to new medium-term low of 2,191.86. It was a stunning 35.4% below February 19 record high of 3,393.52. The corona virus and economic slowdown fears have erased more than a third of the broad stock market value. Then we saw huge come-back rally, as the index got back close to 3,000 mark. The S&P 500 index has broken slightly above 3,000 mark yesterday. However, then it has retraced some of the intraday rally and closed at 2,991.77.

The S&P 500 index has gained 1.29% since last Wednesday's open. In the same period of time our five long and five short stock picks have gained 1.85%. So stock picks were relatively stronger than the broad stock market last week. Our long stock picks have gained 3.71% and they have outperformed the index by far. Short stock picks have resulted in a loss of 0.01%. The overall results remain relatively better than the S&P 500 index over last months.

If stocks were in a prolonged downtrend, 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:

• May 26, 2020
  Long Picks (May 20 open - May 26 close % change): SLB (+5.32%), TWTR (+11.51%), CSCO (-0.47%), SPG (+1.13%), DTE (+1.06%)
  Short Picks (May 20 open - May 26 close % change): AMT (+5.15%), SO (+0.87%), K (-0.34%), HES (+3.07%), NFLX (-8.69%)
  
  Average long result: +3.71%, average short result: -0.01%
  Total profit (average): +1.85%
  
• May 19, 2020
  Long Picks (May 13 open - May 19 close % change): SLB (+1.42%), CSCO (+2.74%), NWSA (+6.12%), CCI (-1.04%), CB (+1.46%)
  Short Picks (May 13 open - May 19 close % change): AVB (+2.72%), C (+5.79%), AEP (-0.45%), COP (+4.02%), AAPL (+0.32%)
  
  Average long result: +2.14%, average short result: -2.48%
  Total profit (average): -0.17%
  
• May 12, 2020
  Long Picks (May 6 open - May 12 close % change): SLB (+5.17%), WYNN (-2.24%), MLM (-7.68%), MKC (+4.97%), GE (-3.22%)
  Short Picks (May 6 open - May 12 close % change): SYY (-3.33%), CAT (-4.81%), XEL (-7.15%), COG (-6.68%), AMZN (+1.18%)
  
  Average long result: -0.60%, average short result: +4.16%
  Total profit (average): +1.78%

Let's check which stocks 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, May 27 - Tuesday, June 2 period.

We will assume the following: the stocks will be bought or sold short on the opening of today's trading session (May 27) and sold or bought back on the closing of the next Tuesday's trading session (June 2).

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.

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.

The stock market sector analysis is available to our subscribers only.

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 trend-following approach, and top 2 long and top 2 short candidates using contrarian approach:

Trend-following approach:

• buys: 1 x Energy, 1 x Communication Services, 1 x Consumer Discretionary
• sells: 1 x Utilities, 1 x Consumer Staples, 1 x Health Care

Contrarian approach (betting against the recent trend):

• buys: 1 x Utilities, 1 x Consumer Staples
• sells: 1 x Energy, 1 x Communication Services

Trend-following approach

Top 3 Buy Candidates

OXY Occidental Petroleum Corp. - Energy

• Stock trades along its month-long downward trend line
• Potential breakout above bear flag pattern
• The resistance level of $18
• Initial upside profit target level of $20-22

DISCK Discovery, Inc. - Communication Services

• Potential breakout above bull flag pattern
• Upside profit target level of $22-23
• The support level remains at $17-18

HAS Hasbro, Inc. - Consumer Discretionary

• The market remains above its short-term upward trend following breaking above resistance level of $70
• The resistance levels of $75 and $80 (upside profit target)
• The support level remains at $60

Summing up, the above trend-following long stock picks are just a part of our whole Stock Pick Update. The Energy, Communication Services and Consumer Discretionary sectors were relatively the strongest in the last 30 days. And they all have gained more than the S&P 500 index in the same period. 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 similarly as it did 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 stock market sector analysis for the past month and 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.

Thank you.

Paul Rejczak
Stock Trading Strategist
Sunshine Profits - Effective Investments through Diligence and Care

• Read more

The broad stock market has extended its short-term consolidation in the last five trading days (May 13 - May 19). Almost two months ago on March 23, the S&P 500 index sold off to new medium-term low of 2,191.86. It was a stunning 35.4% below February 19 record high of 3,393.52. The corona virus and economic slowdown fears have erased more than a third of the broad stock market value. Then we saw huge come-back rally, as the index got back above 2,900 mark. Recently the S&P 500 index has been trying to break above the resistance level of around 2,950.

The S&P 500 index has gained 1.99% since last Wednesday's open. In the same period of time our five long and five short stock picks have lost 0.17%. So stock picks were relatively weaker than the broad stock market. However, our long stock picks have gained 2.14% and they have outperformed the index. Short stock picks have resulted in a loss of 2.48%. The overall results remain relatively better than the S&P 500 index over last months.

If stocks were in a prolonged downtrend, 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:

• May 19, 2020
  Long Picks (May 13 open - May 19 close % change): SLB (+1.42%), CSCO (+2.74%), NWSA (+6.12%), CCI (-1.04%), CB (+1.46%)
  Short Picks (May 13 open - May 19 close % change): AVB (+2.72%), C (+5.79%), AEP (-0.45%), COP (+4.02%), AAPL (+0.32%)
  
  Average long result: +2.14%, average short result: -2.48%
  Total profit (average): -0.17%
• May 12, 2020
  Long Picks (May 6 open - May 12 close % change): SLB (+5.17%), WYNN (-2.24%), MLM (-7.68%), MKC (+4.97%), GE (-3.22%)
  Short Picks (May 6 open - May 12 close % change): SYY (-3.33%), CAT (-4.81%), XEL (-7.15%), COG (-6.68%), AMZN (+1.18%)
  
  Average long result: -0.60%, average short result: +4.16%
  Total profit (average): +1.78%
• May 5, 2020
  Long Picks (Apr 29 open - May 5 close % change): MPC (+4.50%), GILD (-5.75%), LIN (-3.19%), GE (-7.19%), HIG (-13.29%)
  Short Picks (Apr 29 open - May 5 close % change): UPS (-3.53%), SPGI (-2.59%), SO (-6.06%), COG (-1.16%), AMGN (-1.06%)
  
  Average long result: -4.98%, average short result: +2.88%
  Total profit (average): -1.05%

Let's check which stocks 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, May 20 - Tuesday, May 26 period.

We will assume the following: the stocks will be bought or sold short on the opening of today's trading session (May 20) and sold or bought back on the closing of the next Tuesday's trading session (May 26).

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.

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.

The stock market sector analysis is available to our subscribers only.

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 trend-following approach, and top 2 long and top 2 short candidates using contrarian approach:

Trend-following approach:

• buys: 1 x Energy, 1 x Communication Services, 1 x Technology
• sells: 1 x Real Estate, 1 x Utilities, 1 x Consumer Staples

Contrarian approach (betting against the recent trend):

• buys: 1 x Real Estate, 1 x Utilities
• sells: 1 x Energy, 1 x Communication Services

Trend-following approach

Top 3 Buy Candidates

SLB Schlumberger Ltd. - Energy

• Stock remains within a consolidation following April's rebound
• The resistance level of $19
• Initial upside profit target level of $22-24

TWTR Twitter, Inc. - Communication Services

• Potential uptrend resuming following breaking above bull flag pattern
• Upside profit target levels of $31 and $35
• The support level remains at $27

CSCO Cisco Systems, Inc. - Technology

• The market broke above its recent consolidation (bull flag pattern)
• The resistance levels of $45.50 and $48.00 (upside profit target levels)
• The support level of $43.00

Summing up, the above trend-following long stock picks are just a part of our whole Stock Pick Update. The Energy, Communication Services and Technology sectors were relatively the strongest in the last 30 days. And they all have gained much more than the S&P 500 index in the same period. 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 similarly as it did 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 stock market sector analysis for the past month and 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.

Thank you.

Paul Rejczak
Stock Trading Strategist
Sunshine Profits - Effective Investments through Diligence and Care

• Read more

The broad stock market has extended its short-term consolidation in the last five trading days (May 6 - May 12). On March 23, the S&P 500 index sold off to new medium-term low of 2,191.86. It was a stunning 35.4% below February 19 record high of 3,393.52. The corona virus and economic slowdown fears have erased more than a third of the broad stock market value. Then we saw huge come-back rally, as the index got back above 2,900 mark. Recently it has been fluctuating following the mentioned rally. There is no clear short-term direction.

The S&P 500 index has lost 0.45% since last Wednesday's open. In the same period of time our five long and five short stock picks have gained 1.78%. So stock picks were relatively stronger than the broad stock market. Our long stock picks have lost 0.60% and short stock picks have resulted in a gain of 4.16%. The overall results remain relatively better than the S&P 500 index over last weeks.

If stocks were in a prolonged downtrend, 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:

• May 12, 2020
  Long Picks (May 6 open - May 12 close % change): SLB (+5.17%), WYNN (-2.24%), MLM (-7.68%), MKC (+4.97%), GE (-3.22%)
  Short Picks (May 6 open - May 12 close % change): SYY (-3.33%), CAT (-4.81%), XEL (-7.15%), COG (-6.68%), AMZN (+1.18%)
  
  Average long result: -0.60%, average short result: +4.16%
  Total profit (average): +1.78%
  
• May 5, 2020
  Long Picks (Apr 29 open - May 5 close % change): MPC (+4.50%), GILD (-5.75%), LIN (-3.19%), GE (-7.19%), HIG (-13.29%)
  Short Picks (Apr 29 open - May 5 close % change): UPS (-3.53%), SPGI (-2.59%), SO (-6.06%), COG (-1.16%), AMGN (-1.06%)
  
  Average long result: -4.98%, average short result: +2.88%
  Total profit (average): -1.05%
• Apr 28, 2020
  Long Picks (Apr 22 open - Apr 28 close % change): SLB (+4.46%), EXPE (+14.94%), LH (+10.36%), COTY (-0.51%), PNC (+4.52%)
  Short Picks (Apr 22 open - Apr 28 close % change): WMT (-1.54%), NDAQ (+2.50%), VZ (+0.73%), COG (-3.79%), EBAY (+2.44%)
  
  Average long result: +5.17%, average short result: +0.18%
  Total profit (average): +2.68%

Let's check which stocks 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, May 13 - Tuesday, May 19 period.

We will assume the following: the stocks will be bought or sold short on the opening of today's trading session (May 13) and sold or bought back on the closing of the next Tuesday's trading session (May 19).

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.

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.

The stock market sector analysis is available to our subscribers only.

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 trend-following approach, and top 2 long and top 2 short candidates using contrarian approach:

Trend-following approach:

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

Contrarian approach (betting against the recent trend):

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

Trend-following approach

Top 3 Buy Candidates

SLB Schlumberger Ltd. - Energy

• Stock still above its month-long upward trend line
• The resistance level of $19
• Initial upside profit target level of $22-24

CSCO Cisco Systems, Inc. - Technology

• Stock broke above the resistance level of $43
• Potential uptrend resuming following breaking above bull flag pattern
• Upside profit target level of $45

NWSA News Corp. - Communication Services

• The market broke above medium-term downward trend line
• The resistance level of $12 (upside profit target level)
• The support level of $10.00-10.25

Summing up, the above trend-following long stock picks are just a part of our whole Stock Pick Update. The Energy, Technology and Communication Services sectors were relatively the strongest in the last 30 days. And they all have gained more than the S&P 500 index in the same period. 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 similarly as it did 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 stock market sector analysis for the past month and 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

The broad stock market has been fluctuating in the last five trading days (April 29 - May 5). Over a month ago, on March 23 the S&P 500 index sold off to new medium-term low of 2,191.86. It was a stunning 35.4% below February 19 record high of 3,393.52. The corona virus and economic slowdown fears have erased more than a third of the broad stock market value. Then we saw huge come-back rally, as the index got back above 2,900 mark. Recently it has come back to around 2,800, before rising again. Is this a new medium-term uptrend or just upward correction before another leg down? We will likely see more short-term volatility.

The S&P 500 index has lost 1.71% since last Wednesday's open. In the same period of time our five long and five short stock picks have lost 1.05%. So stock picks were relatively stronger than the broad stock market. Our short stock picks have gained 2.88% and they were relatively stronger than the index on the short side. However, long stock picks have resulted in a loss of 4.98%. The overall results remain relatively better than the S&P 500 index over last weeks.

If stocks were in a prolonged downtrend, 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:

• May 5, 2020
  Long Picks (Apr 29 open - May 5 close % change): MPC (+4.50%), GILD (-5.75%), LIN (-3.19%), GE (-7.19%), HIG (-13.29%)
  Short Picks (Apr 29 open - May 5 close % change): UPS (-3.53%), SPGI (-2.59%), SO (-6.06%), COG (-1.16%), AMGN (-1.06%)
  
  Average long result: -4.98%, average short result: +2.88%
  Total profit (average): -1.05%
• Apr 28, 2020
  Long Picks (Apr 22 open - Apr 28 close % change): SLB (+4.46%), EXPE (+14.94%), LH (+10.36%), COTY (-0.51%), PNC (+4.52%)
  Short Picks (Apr 22 open - Apr 28 close % change): WMT (-1.54%), NDAQ (+2.50%), VZ (+0.73%), COG (-3.79%), EBAY (+2.44%)
  
  Average long result: +5.17%, average short result: +0.18%
  Total profit (average): +2.68%
• Apr 21, 2020
  Long Picks (Apr 15 open - Apr 21 close % change): V (-4.84%), IP (-7.49%), SLB (+0.14%), LHX (-5.38%), FRT (-13.23%)
  Short Picks (Apr 15 open - Apr 21 close % change): BA (-1.92%), EQIX (-0.82%), NEE (-1.92%), HPQ (-6.97%), NEM (+1.25%)
  
  Average long result: -6.16%, average short result: +2.07%
  Total profit (average): -2.04%

Let's check which stocks 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, May 6 - Tuesday, May 12 period.

We will assume the following: the stocks will be bought or sold short on the opening of today's trading session (May 6) and sold or bought back on the closing of the next Tuesday's trading session (May 12).

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.

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.

The stock market sector analysis is available to our subscribers only.

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 trend-following approach, and top 2 long and top 2 short candidates using contrarian approach:

Trend-following approach:

• buys: 1 x Energy, 1 x Consumer Discretionary, 1 x Materials
• sells: 1 x Consumer Staples, 1 x Industrials, 1 x Utilities

Contrarian approach (betting against the recent trend):

• buys: 1 x Consumer Staples, 1 x Industrials
• sells: 1 x Energy, 1 x Consumer Discretionary

Trend-following approach

Top 3 Buy Candidates

SLB Schlumberger Ltd. - Energy

• Stock remains above its month-long upward trend line
• The resistance level of $19 (initial upside profit target level)

WYNN Wynn Resorts Ltd - Consumer Discretionary

• Stock broke above its March - April downward trend line
• It fluctuates along the resistance level of $80
• Potential uptrend resuming

MLM Martin Marietta Materials - Materials

• The market continues to trade above the support level of $175
• Potential breakout above the month-long downward trend line
• The resistance level of $210 (upside profit target level)

Summing up, the above trend-following long stock picks are just a part of our whole Stock Pick Update. The Energy, Consumer Discretionary and Materials sectors were relatively the strongest in the last 30 days. And they all have gained more than the S&P 500 index in the same period. 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 similarly as it did 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 stock market sector analysis for the past month and 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

The broad stock market has extended its over-month-long uptrend in the last five trading days (April 22 - April 28). On March 23 it sold off to new medium-term low of 2,191.86. It was a stunning 35.4% below February 19 record high of 3,393.52. The corona virus and economic slowdown fears have erased more than a third of the broad stock market value! Then we saw huge come-back rally, as the S&P 500 index got back close to 2,900 mark. Is this a new uptrend or just upward correction before another leg down? We will likely see more short-term volatility.

The S&P 500 index has gained 2.71% since last Wednesday's open. In the same period of time our five long and five short stock picks have gained 2.68%. So stock picks' return was basically in line with the broad stock market. However, our long stock picks have gained 5.17% and they were relatively much stronger than the index. Short stock picks have resulted in a gain of 0.18%. The overall results remain relatively better than the S&P 500 index over last weeks.

If stocks were in a prolonged downtrend, 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:

• Apr 28, 2020
  Long Picks (Apr 22 open - Apr 28 close % change): SLB (+4.46%), EXPE (+14.94%), LH (+10.36%), COTY (-0.51%), PNC (+4.52%)
  Short Picks (Apr 22 open - Apr 28 close % change): WMT (-1.54%), NDAQ (+2.50%), VZ (+0.73%), COG (-3.79%), EBAY (+2.44%)
  
  Average long result: +5.17%, average short result: +0.18%
  Total profit (average): +2.68%
• Apr 21, 2020
  Long Picks (Apr 15 open - Apr 21 close % change): V (-4.84%), IP (-7.49%), SLB (+0.14%), LHX (-5.38%), FRT (-13.23%)
  Short Picks (Apr 15 open - Apr 21 close % change): BA (-1.92%), EQIX (-0.82%), NEE (-1.92%), HPQ (-6.97%), NEM (+1.25%)
  
  Average long result: -6.16%, average short result: +2.07%
  Total profit (average): -2.04%
• Apr 14, 2020
  Long Picks (Apr 8 open - Apr 14 close % change): WAT (+1.70%), WBA (+7.36%), AMD (+14.27%), MRO (+8.70%), VNO (+17.17%)
  Short Picks (Apr 8 open - Apr 14 close % change): CVX (+2.82%), EXR (-1.31%), ICE (+4.58%), HUM (+8.43%), PEP (+6.76%)
  
  Average long result: +9.84%, average short result: -4.26%
  Total profit (average): +2.79%

Let's check which stocks 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, April 29 - Tuesday, May 5 period.

We will assume the following: the stocks will be bought or sold short on the opening of today's trading session (April 29) and sold or bought back on the closing of the next Tuesday's trading session (May5).

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.

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.

The stock market sector analysis is available to our subscribers only.

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 trend-following approach, and top 2 long and top 2 short candidates using contrarian approach:

Trend-following approach:

• buys: 1 x Energy, 1 x Health Care, 1 x Materials
• sells: 1 x Industrials, 1 x Financials, 1 x Utilities

Contrarian approach (betting against the recent trend):

• buys: 1 x Industrials, 1 x Financials
• sells: 1 x Energy, 1 x Health Care

Trend-following approach

Top 3 Buy Candidates

MPC Marathon Petroleum Corp. - Energy

• Breakout above upward trend line/ resistance level
• The next resistance level of $35.0-37.5 (upside profit target level)

GILD Gilead Sciences, Inc. - Health Care

• Stock remains above two-month-long upward trend line
• The resistance level is at $85 (upside profit target level)

LIN Linde plc - Materials

• Breakout above the bull flag pattern so advance may continue
• The resistance level of $195-205 and the support level of $170

Summing up, the above trend-following long stock picks are just a part of our whole Stock Pick Update. The Energy, Health Care and Materials sectors were relatively the strongest in the last 30 days again. And they all have gained more than the S&P 500 index in the same period. 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 similarly as it did 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 stock market sector analysis for the past month and 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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