The bull turned 2 on Wednesday but the birthday was hardly greeted with a celebration on Wall Street.
In fact, the bears seem to have new reasons to come out of hibernation, nearly every day.
Take, for example, the PHLX semiconductor index ; it closed below a key technical level, its 50-day moving average, which chart watchers take as a worrisome sign.
With headwinds starting to whip down Wall Street, there's perhaps no better time to turn to one of the most celebrated bears we know, the widely followed strategist Doug Kass, CNBC contributor and Seabreeze president.
Yes, he’s still bearish, but he’s not predicting a whoosh lower. Kass tells us, "Markets will be flat for the year."
Intrigued?
”I believe investors should no longer chase strength nor should they short weakness. They have to buy the dips and sell the rips,” Kass says in a live interview on CNBC’s Fast Money.
Kass goes on to explain that he thinks the market is transforming; going from a trending market to a trendless market.
What does that mean?
Largely, it doesn’t bode well for the crowd who likes to go long for the long-term. “Opportunistic traders will likely outperform the buy and hold crowd,” Kass explains.
He thinks 4 factors will likely keep the market stuck in the mud, so to speak. They follow:
- Geopolitics
- D.C. Dysfunction
- Economy
- Eroding Investor Sentiment
”Investors will be held hostage by these uncertainties,” he says.
How do you navigate this brave new world where stocks neither make significant moves in either direction?
Kass says, “look for special situations.” In other words, stocks that have some kind of key catalyst.
As you may know in the past he’s told the desk he’s bullish Yahoo as a sum-of-the-parts story and takeout candidate.
And on Wednesday’s broadcast he offered up another name: Platinum Underwriters . Kass thinks this stock was oversold because of earthquakes and floods. "It trades at a 15% discount to book. And the company is embarking on a repurchasing strategy.”
* As you may know, Kass is widely followed for his market timing. He correctly called a bottom last summerand also predicted the crisis lows in March 2009.
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Trader disclosure: On March 9, 2011, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC’s "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders; eymour owns (AAPL); Seymour owns (FXI); Seymour's firm is short (FCX); ami Owns (AGU); Adami Owns (C); Adami Owns (GS); Adami Owns (INTC); Adami Owns (MSFT); Adami Owns (NUE); Adami Owns (BTU); Adami's wife works for (MRK); nerman's Firm Is Short (IWM); Finerman's Firm Is Short (SPY); Finerman's Firm Is Short (MDY); Finerman's Firm is short (XRT); Finerman's Firm is short (IJR); Finerman's Firm Is Long S&P Puts; Finerman's Firm Is Long Russell 2000 Puts; Finerman's Firm And Finerman Own (AAPL); Finerman's Firm Owns (BAC) Leap, Finerman Owns (BAC); Finerman's Firm Owns (BBY); Finerman's Firm And Finerman Own (BP); Finerman owns (C); Finerman's firm owns (FDO); Finerman's firm owns (GLW); Finerman owns (GM) leaps; Finerman Owns (GOOG); Finerman's Firm And Finerman Own (HPQ); Finerman's Firm Owns (IBM); Finerman's Firm Owns (JPM), (JPM) Leap; Finerman Owns (JPM); Finerman's firm owns (M); Finerman's Firm And Finerman Own (MSFT); Finerman's firm owns (TGT); Finerman's Firm Owns (WMT); rranova owns (VRTS); Terranova owns (C); Terranova owns (GS); Terranova owns (PNC); Terranova owns (USB); Terranova owns (JPM); Terranova owns (UPL); Terranova owns (ABT); Terranova owns (MS); Terranova owns (PBR); Terranova owns (BAX); Terranova owns (TEVA); Terranova owns (CVI); Terranova owns (RSX); Terranova owns (SU); Terranova owns (CNQ)
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