Maquire!

I got this letter in my inbox yesterday:   

 

Good morning Ian,   

 

I followed your instruction and bought MPG at 1.50 per share, today, it goes crazy. Thanks a lot.    

 

I really like to read your articles.   

 

Sue   

 

I first discovered Maguire back in September, 2009. As part of my daily routine, I check in on the stocks that are moving the most every day. You can find this information on Yahoo! Finance by clicking on this link:  http://finance.yahoo.com/gainers?e=us.   

 

This list simply shows the stocks that are putting in the biggest moves of the day. It’s almost always dominated by small cap stocks. You’ll also usually see a few regional banks that are up 15% on 3,000 shares traded. I’m always curious why these big moves happen to small banks on ridiculously light volume, but I digress…  

 

The stocks you’ll find on the Top Gainers list are usually moving on news. They have a tendency to reverse some of the gains they are posting as investors who are holding the stock take profits. So I don’t recommend simply buying a stock that’s moving.   

 

Rather, I like to look for trends on the top gainers list. For instance if you see a few stocks from the same sector on the top gainers list, like oil companies or semiconductor companies, then you can surmise that money is flowing into the sector and the gains may be more reliable.   

 

That’s how I discovered Maguire Properties (NYSE:MPG).  A few commercial real estate stocks were hitting the top gainers list, like Maguire and Strategic Hotels & Resorts (NYSE:BEE). At the time, I advised Daily Profit readers that this could be a good money-making opportunity. And it was. Some Daily Profit readers doubled their money on Maguire in a short time.   

 

So when Maguire dropped back to support at $1.50 a share, I recommended the stock to Daily Profit readers. Today, it’s hitting $2.60 a share for a nice 73% gain. If you bought Maguire, I’d love to hear how you’re doing, write me at [email protected].   

 

There are several items of positive news on the wire today. Italy’s prime minister and former European Commissioner President Romano Prodi has declared that “[f]or Greece, the problem is completely over…I don’t see any other case now in Europe. I don’t think there is any reason to think the euro system will collapse or will suffer greatly because of Greece.”   

 

I know, you’re probably thinking “yeah, right.” And I admit, the contrarian in me is asking “what about Spain and Portugal?”

 

There are clearly issues with the European Union, given the disparity in economic strength between countries like Germany and Greece or Spain. But we have similar disparities here in the U.S.   

 

I’m not ready to believe the debt problems in Europe are gone. But Prodi’s announcement will probably alleviate investors’ concern somewhat. That, in turn, could help the euro make up some ground against the U.S. dollar.  

 

China reports that exports rose 45.7% in February over last year. And imports rose 44.7%. These numbers are show that demand has improved immensely both for the world and for China.  

 

However, it’s the demand growth in China that’s really good news. Consumer demand in China was strong enough to narrow China’s trade balance by 50%.   

 

We’ve known for some time that China’s export economy must provide enough jobs and income to drive Chinese demand for goods higher. And the reduced trade balance suggests that is happening. And that has important implications for investors.   

 

The main argument of the China bears is that the Chinese government is using foreign reserves to artificially support production there. Some have even speculated that cars are being built in China, bought by the government and then stored in warehouses, just to keep people working.   

 

Of course, job growth is critical to China. But the fact that imports are on the rise and the trade balance has narrowed suggests that Chinese demand is improving. Maybe they are buying all those cars after all.   

 

One of the Chinese stocks in the SmallCapInvestor PRO portfolio was up as much as 20% yesterday. And several of the other Chinese stocks in the portfolio have made 10%-15% in the last two weeks.  

 

Investors are getting bullish on Chinese stocks again. You can find out about my top recommendations HERE.

 

The Commerce Department is reporting that wholesale inventories fell by 0.2% in January and sales rose 1.3%. Of course, that sales number was revised lower from earlier estimates from January, but we’re still seeing a situation where companies may have to replenish inventory. That’s positive for both demand expectations and for employment.   

 

After all, to increase production companies either must increase productivity of the existing workforce or hire more workers. Given the massive 6% productivity gains we saw recently, I suspect workers can only be pushed so much further. And the fact that the Senate is on the verge of passing a jobs bill that will include tax credits for hiring, I continue to believe we will see an upside surprise for hiring soon.   

 

We saw a nice reversal from early weakness yesterday. Now for a little on what we can expect going forward, I asked TradeMaster Daily Stock Alerts’ Jason Cimpl to tell us what he’s seeing:   

 

The bulls have quickly rebounded from the 1040 low last month. Along the way, buyers set up strong support levels at 1085 and 1114.  

 

Thus far this week, the market has traded sideways, but has made a higher high. The SPX is having trouble breaking past 1140 resistance, and 1153 will also provide the SPX with additional sellers.
 
 Even if a pull back occurs this week, 1114 will likely hold.   

 

Jason sounds a little cautious, but that didn’t stop him from getting his TradeMaster readers in two new positions this morning. One of them is a small oil stock that should have 38% gains coming in the near future. Add that to the 18% and 15% gains his readers are sitting on right now and March is looking like a good month for TradeMaster Daily Stock Alerts.   

 

Next week, I’m sending Jason to the Roth Capital Growth Conference in California. I expect he’s going to uncover some exciting new small cap companies for us. I look forward to sharing his observations with you next week.