Financials continue to feel max pain as major banks continue to be hammered by selling. The exotic forms of investment continue to haunt those firms who were careless and did not handle risk properly. Selling has spread throughout the rest of the market as Crude Oil prices race higher. We are also seeing Grains and Agriculture futures point higher as well. These markets have and continue to signal higher inflation. The markets haven’t quite seen a peak in fear, a washout of the markets is highly likely. Along the lines of a washout will more than likely be proceeded by crude oil entering in superspike mode. The market is in chaos mode and can not be trusted. Financials might continue their trend but the short trade has become so obvious a sharp covering rally could wipe you clean. So few stocks are working ...

Monday the NASDAQ undercut its most recent rally attempt’s lows reseting our confirmation rally. Tuesday’s action failed to re-ignite a new rally attempt. Volume was on the light side as NASDAQ volume fell roughly 2% while on the NYSE we saw higher volume. This market continues its “no man’s land” path. Overall, this market does appear to be a bit oversold at the moment and good news is that we haven’t been able to accelerate to the downside. However, upside seems a bit LAME! Until a clear direction in this market is set, its best to step aside and let others waste their time. Times like these the greats would be having a vacation. The lack of interest from large institutional players leads to lackluster markets like we have here. So many stocks are breaking out and failing that it leads me to ...

My latest column is up at RealMoney.

I usually want a stock to score highly in four out of five categories before giving it much consideration: earnings momentum, earnings quality, price momentum, free cash flow and return potential.

This week, only three stocks went four for five, and I’ve talked about them all before: W&T Offshore (WTI) , Pitney Bowes (PBI) and Rent-a-Center (RCII) . As I look for new investment ideas, I’m left with three options, each of which has significant drawbacks.

Go short Change strategy Stay on the sidelines

I seldom

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Volume jumped across the board Friday market the 3rd straight day worth of volume increases. Along with the volume increases we did see stocks move higher showing signs of accumulation. There is no doubt that the decline in oil prices eased the fears of traders on Wall Street helping fuel, pun intended the gains this past week. The only issue with this past week was volume was lower than previous week. Now mind you we didn’t trade on Memorial Day so this is a bit skewed, but we did see lighter trade all week. This past week highlights that its too difficult to make large bets on either side of the isle. I would expect to see this continue until we see more volume. Positioning yourself in this market is a difficult task. Many have to weigh action versus inaction. Most will choose ...