Navellier Growth: your source for market-beating growth stocks

 

Financials are acting like a dead weight on the U.S. economy and the stock market. As banks struggle with rising defaults, especially on mortgages, the news media is pouncing on every chance it gets to spread fear and panic all over Wall Street. Investors are searching for a "silver lining" amidst recession concerns.

Speaking of recession, that's a very common word nowadays on CNBC. I've even heard the depression word being tossed around. Yes, I do believe we are in a recession, but I must say that concluding that the U.S. economy is in a depression is way over the top and irresponsible.

This is simply because the "silver lining" in the U.S. economy can been found in our nation's heartland, from the oil business in Texas all the way up through the farm belt in the center of our country.

The revised fourth-quarter flash GDP estimate was a dismal 0.6%, but exports soared by over 19%. Commodities are hot right now. Naturally, my Blue Chip Growth Buy List is heavily weighted in export related plays and stocks that profit from the weak U.S. dollar. The U.S. remains the breadbasket of the world, and our seed and fertilizer companies such as Monsanto (MON) are benefiting. And not only are corn prices near their 12-month high, wheat prices have hit a new all-time high, and coal prices have risen 42% this year. Demand for coal continues to rise as the world's electricity use expands. In China, where more than 80% of its electricity generation comes from coal, inventories have been seriously depleted as the severe winter sent coal prices soaring. We do not own any coal stocks on our Blue Chip Growth Buy List, but we do own a railroad company that transports much of this coal. In addition, our utilities are expanding their power generation through natural gas power plants due to their lower emissions.

Overall, the U.S. economy may be teetering on the brink of a recession, but more Fed help is on the way, as Fed recently showed us with their recent 75 basis-point interest rate cut on March 18. The chaos in the financial sector is essentially causing a massive de-leveraging of the U.S. economy, with housing clearly the biggest casualty. Due to loads of unsold home inventories, banks and many other financial institutions should continue to post write-downs for the next five to six quarters. So after the Fed cuts rates another 50 basis points in April, Wall Street should finally be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

In the interim, as always, our best defense remains a strong offense of fundamentally superior stocks. I'm very pleased that our Blue Chip Growth stocks continue to post strong sales and earnings growth and are characterized by extremely low price-to-earnings ratios. The fact that our Blue Chip Growth stocks are concentrated in hot sectors, such as aerospace, agriculture, oil service and other hot spots, makes us the "oasis" the rest of the market seeks out during turbulent market environments.

Recent Market Analysis Articles:

04.16.08 - A Look at the Current Market
04.04.08 - Earnings Season: Reaping the Benefits of Investing Money
04.04.08 - Are we in a recession?
03.21.08 - How to Invest Despite the Falling Dollar
03.19.08 - Stimulus Package: The President's Plan

Visit the Market Analysis Archive
Visit our complete article archive