Nov 20 2008

5 Short Stock Picks for the Weak Economy

Posted by Dax Desai in Investing, Stocks
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If you’re not shorting in this market you’re probably not making money. My investments are 100% short. I could try to side-step the earnings bombs and make money go long, but the risk/reward is more favorable for shorting. I’ll continue to short until the market kicks my butt and tells me to turn the other cheek. My CNBC Million Dollar Challenge results are great because I’m short the market as a whole.

Million Dollar Challenge - 11/20/2008

The Short Candidates for Tomorrow

I’ll be watching the below stocks/ETF’s tomorrow for my shorting pleasure. Here they are for you to follow along.

Alcoa (AA)

Will be a big victim of lower consumer/industrial demand. It is headed in a downward spiral and should continue to follow its shorter term trendline tomorrow.

Alcoa (AA)

Citigroup (C)

Citigroup broke an important $5 level today. Institutions should start dumping this stock soon. Barring some sort of additional “free money” from the Feds this stock is going to tank.

AK Steel Holding Corp (AKS)

This is another metals/industrial play. Its getting thrown out and should revert back to its trend line and reach sub-$5 levels.

AK Steel Holding Corp (AKS)

UltraShort Consumer Services ProShares (SCC)

Another great way to play the weak economy is to play the weak consumer. The SCC is an ETF that aims to return twice the inverse daily performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Services Index. This index tracks consumer spending in various services and is an easier way to play the broader weakening of consumer spending.

UltraShort Consumer Services ProShares (SCC)

UltraShort S&P500 ProShares (SDS)

This one is a little tricky. After today’s trading I think it can still go down tomorrow, but there is a possibility the downward move may not materialize. In fact we may see a short-term bounce. I would keep this trade on the backburner, but this might be a good place to go long. When you buy SDS you are buying an ETF that aims to return twice the inverse of the S&P 500. By going long SDS you are in effect betting against the S&P 500 index.