How To Keep Your Cool When Markets Jitterbug

For the first time in years, when I looked at my stock prices on Bloomberg, I saw something strange and unusual. The dancers had fallen asleep. There was just fractional movement in the highly volatile groups like technology, financials and healthcare. 

Tesla, of course was the exception, rising over 13 points, but seems to be normalcy for this jumping jack. Consider the following: MIcrosoft up fractionally and Apple a buck. The market itself was practically unchanged. 

Berkshire Hathaway? You coulda fallen asleep with its 49 cent move on a $500 blockbuster. Same goes for Microsoft, budging 50 cents. 

The drug stocks, quite good dancers, sat seated but Eli LIlly showed muscle with a 16-point negative. Pfizer, which has shown no revenue growth or major new drug certifications, languishes in low twenties. 

Financials waxed curious. They do erupt overnight with moves of 3 to 4%. Somedays they go both ways,  up ‘n down. I see banks as playable platforms but this Monday they hardly budged. JPM just pennies per share but it can show 5 dollar upsies. Same goes for Morgan Stanley and even more volatile Citigroup. They showed marginal activity this day. May 9, 2025. 

The energy sector has become super volatile with big oil capable of several point swings overnight. I’m talking upwardly stodgy Exxon Mobil. Stocks in play like Occidental Petroleum, largely owned by Berkshire Hathaway, has moved down from low fifties to $40 past couple of months. 

I own Master Limited Partnerships like Enterprise Products, a 6% yielder. Daily volatility can range over a buck on a 30 dollar stock. 

Airlines, objects for traders, showed several days of 5% moves. Delta, American Airlines and United Airlines act like toys. 

Rivian, is a 4% mover, among my dirty dozen toys along with Macy’s and Ford. The exception is Cleveland Cliffs, in a long slide down to 7 from double digits. Steel and other metals need a snappy economy to pull out of a major depression in steel orders. Same goes for aluminum and copper. 

In the financials, normally volatile Goldman Sachs shows dozen point daily swings, mainly positive. 

I appreciate stocks that are understandable and volatile, like Goldman Sachs.  The other precept is they’re growable and sell below 20 times earnings. I call these the polite stocks. My first pick past week was Disney, a prime consumer play. I like that they’re are still in a buildout mood in theme parks worldwide. 

I’m afraid to admit this, but I bought a 3% position in Apple. Everything I probe can become a major holding, at least 5% of assets, sometimes more. Goldman Sachs, for example. Way back I owned Lehman in the economics blow up some 15 years ago. Banks then shot themselves in the foot, buying huge positions in the shaky home mortgage market. Lehman is gone. It was one of my dirty dozen plays in under $10 paper. They added to their troubles with huge leveraged positions in commercial real estate, office buildings, New York and elsewhere. 

Overnight, Lehman moved from a first class financial house to a loser. Merrill Lynch was known as a Caholic house. Jew boys like me weren’t admitted into their training programs. Merrill was acquired by Bank of America for peanuts and never heard from again. 

I love owning a dozen or so tattered stocks selling under $10. They are hopefully survivors who were past leaders. Consider in the last down cycle Halliburton, a leading oil service operator succumbed to $7 from near $40 and has now come back into mid-twenties. 

What to do about Donald Trump’s wrecking ball? His act can schmeiss the price-earnings ratio of the market by several percentage points. Nobody is safe from his wrecking ball. The market could sell at 15 times earnings rather than 20 times. Too early for cyclicals if recession is around the corner. 

I’d expect to regain a 50% invested position in equities next 6 months or so. My candidates for testing the waters are banks like Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. Prime industrials like Deere and Caterpillar are too risky and costly at present. I already own a huge position in Goldman Sachs, but lost some price discipline owning Amazon who’s AI position is formidable.  

No interest in energy where I see over-supply in production for years to come. No price leverage, either. Non-durables like McDonalds could act better along with Wal-Mart, but they’re pricey today. 

I wouldn’t dream of being fully invested, unworried about valuation or cyclical risk to the earnings power of the S & P 500 list. 

Yes! Trump sharply reduced proposed harsh Chinese tariffs, but not enough. The market went bananas when the animals came out of their cages next morning. I brought a hundred shares of Disney for each of our grandchildren.  Then indulged in a hearty breakfast.