Martin Zweig Winning on Wall Street Read online

  “HE’S A PHENOMENON.… His letter is firmly in first place for performance.… He has not lost money in any single year since I began tracking his performance.”

  —Mark Hulbert, editor of the Hulbert Financial Digest

  “CLEARLY WRITTEN AND EASILY ASSIMILATED … Winning on Wall Street is just about perfect for the investor who wants to achieve more than a modicum of control over his destiny, with a minimum of fuss and bother.”

  —Systems and Forecasts

  “I was delighted to come across Winning on Wall Street. Martin Zweig’s new book can be recommended to the individual investor. AS A FORECASTING SYSTEM, WINNING ON WALL STREET SHOWS IMPRESSIVE RESULTS.”

  —William Hayes, Market Chronicle

  “HE HAS A PRETTY DARN GOOD RECORD WHEN IT COMES TO RIDING MARKET TRENDS AND PICKING STOCKS.”

  —Kathryn M. Welling, Barron’s

  “DR. MARTIN ZWEIG IS ONE OF THE MOST CREATIVE TECHNICAL ANALYSTS IN THE INVESTMENT INDUSTRY. He has done more statistical work to establish the reliability of his approach than perhaps any other publisher of a stock market service.”

  —Robert Nurock, president, Investors Analysis, Wall Street Week

  “ONE OF THE CANNIEST MARKET WATCHERS AROUND.”

  —Jack Egan, New York magazine

  “MARTY ZWEIG HAS ALREADY REACHED THE HEIGHTS OF EVERY FACET OF THE ADVISORY BUSINESS … a record like that is not a matter of luck. The results of Marty’s work place him on the top rung among market strategists and timers.”

  —Timer Digest

  “BUY IT, READ IT, DIGEST ITS WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE AND REVIEW IT FREQUENTLY … Martin Zweig ranks as one of the great American success stories in the investment advisory business.”

  —Yale Hirsch, Smart Money

  “WHEN A NEWSLETTER WRITER LEADS ALL HIS COMPETITION IN PICKING STOCKS FOR A YEAR, YOU MIGHT DISMISS IT AS A LUCKY STREAK. BUT WHEN THE SAME WRITER COMES BACK AND REPEATS HIS TRIUMPH FOR A SECOND YEAR RUNNING, IT’S CLEARLY TIME TO CONSIDER WHAT HE MAY HAVE GOING FOR HIM THAT THE OTHERS DON’T.”

  —Louis Rukeyser

  “WHEN ZWEIG TALKS, PEOPLE LISTEN. Analysts who have foretold the crash have achieved guru status. Chief among them may be Marty Zweig.”

  —TIME

  “[One of] a handful of terrific books by terrific writers … recommended because the celebrated newsletter writer has, in fact, been winning on Wall Street for quite some time.”

  —Forbes

  “Few market forecasters get more respect on Wall Street than Martin Zweig.

  —Money®

  “IF MARTY ZWEIG WERE PLAYING BASEBALL, HE’D HIT .400 AND 62 HOMERS AT THE SAME TIME.”

  —Investors Intelligence

  “CAN MAKE ANY INVESTOR A WINNER ON WALL STREET. The book is probably the best stock market book in ten years and is highly recommended for all investors and students of the market.”

  —Lowe Investment & Financial Letter

  “A GREAT BOOK BY A GREAT STOCK MARKET SCIENTIST.”

  —Walter A. Heiby, author of Dynamic Synthesis

  “WE RECOMMEND THE BOOK TO ALL READERS ACTIVE IN THE STOCK MARKET.”

  —Income & Asset Advisory

  “ZWEIG HAS PROVEN BEYOND DOUBT THAT SUCH DISCIPLINED, PATIENT, FLEXIBLE TREND-FOLLOWERS CAN BE CONSISTENT WINNERS. NO CRYSTAL BALL NEEDED.”

  —Dick Davis Digest

  “A SURE-FIRE SYSTEM FOR BEATING THE MARKET … a clear and detailed analysis of market trends, interest rates, Federal Reserve policy, debt volume, market momentum, etc.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “AN EXCELLENT TOOL … the book carefully explains the indicators and models that form the basis of Dr. Zweig’s historically successful investment approach.”

  —Miami Herald

  “THE COUNTRY’S NO.1 STOCK PICKER … shows, among other things, how to construct your own stock market indicators.”

  —Memphis Business Journal

  “AN IN-DEPTH PRIMER … FOR PLAYERS IN ONE OR MORE OF THE VARIOUS MARKETS WHO ARE LOOKING FOR AN EDGE.… THIS COULD BE AN ANSWER TO PRAYERS.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “AMERICA’S HOTTEST STOCK PICKER … Zweig makes this town’s superagents seem like schleppers in comparison.”

  —Los Angeles Magazine

  “SELF-HELP FOR THE INVESTOR! Winning on Wall Street offers a lucid explanation of the factors that influence market prices. Zweig fully explains the model he uses to spot bear and bull markets early.”

  —Dallas Times-Herald

  “VALUABLE ADVICE … A SOLID REFERENCE SOURCE.”

  —Providence Sunday Journal

  “CAN MARTIN ZWEIG’S WINNING ON WALL STREET HAVE VALUE FOR THE AVERAGE STOCK MARKET INVESTOR? THE ANSWER IS AN UNEQUIVOCAL YES.”

  —Frederick C. Apter, Barron’s

  “MORE THAN A GUIDE TO ADVANCES AND DECLINES … WINNING ON WALL STREET IS A TIGHTLY WRITTEN ACCOUNT OF THE MANY SIGNALS, INDICATORS, AND RATIOS THAT, WHEN PROPERLY EMPLOYED, CAN PRODUCE GOOD RESULTS FOR INVESTORS.”

  —Changing Times

  Copyright

  Copyright © 1986, 1990, 1994, 1997 by Martin E. Zweig

  All rights reserved.

  Warner Books

  Hachette Book Group

  237 Park Avenue

  New York, NY 10017

  Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com.

  ISBN: 978-0-446-56168-6

  First eBook Edition: June 2009

  Acknowledgments

  I’d like to thank those whose contributions made this book possible: Joan Graff and Lisa Liss, who typed and retyped the drafts; Joe Di-Menna, Carol Whitehead, Tim Clark, Michael Schauss, Andrew Salamy, Catherine Nolan, and Tony Berkman of Zweig Securities, Ned Davis of Ned Davis Research and Ken Tower of Delafield, Harvey, Tabell for their research help; Debbie Drake (and Ned once again) of Ned Davis Research for their generous aid in doing the graphics; Jim Frost, Larry Kirshbaum, and everyone else at Warner Books; Nat Soble, my agent; Lou Rukeyser of Wall $treet Week and Alan Abelson of Barren’s, who each, many years ago, gave me the opportunity to be heard or read when my career was embryonic; Jonathan Weiss, who taught me to trust my own stock market judgment; my mom and late father for obvious reasons; my late Uncle Mort, who first encouraged me to learn about the stock market; and most of all my friend and collaborator Morrie Gold-fischer, who first urged me to write this book and then diligently edited the manuscript and gave it cohesive direction, all the while abiding my idiosyncrasies and time constraints.

  Contents

  Copyright

  Acknowledgments

  Preface

  Introduction

  Chapter 1: How This Book Is Different from All Other Books on the Stock Market and What It Can Do for You

  Chapter 2: How and Why I Got into Market Analysis and Stock Selection

  Chapter 3: The Market Averages—What They Mean

  Chapter 4: Monetary Indicators—“Don’t Fight the Fed”

  Chapter 5: Momentum Indicators—“The Trend Is Your Friend”

  Chapter 6: Combining Monetary and Momentum Indicators—The Only Investment Model You Will Ever Need

  Chapter 7: Fighting the Tape—An Invitation to Disaster

  Chapter 8: Sentiment Indicators—When to Part Company with the Crowd

  Chapter 9: Seasonal Indicators—A Year-Round Forecasting Guide

  Chapter 10: Major Bull and Bear Markets—How to Spot Them Early

  Chapter 11: How to Pick the Winners—The “Shotgun” and “Rifle” Approaches

  Chapter 12: My Own Stock Selections—Why It’s Sometimes Right to Sell “Too Soon”

  Chapter 13: Stop! How to Manage Your Investments to Minimize Risks and
Maximize Profits

  Chapter 14: Selling Short It’s Not Un-American

  Chapter 15: Questions and Answers on Investing

  Chapter 16: Concluding Words to the Intelligent Investor

  PREFACE

  The Stock Market in the Millennium—How Different Will It Be?

  Some thirty-five years ago, when I was starting my stock market career, some traders in brokerage houses were kept abreast of stock quotations by so-called “chalk boys.” It was their job to follow the old ticker tape that was blown up on a screen and periodically write down the latest prices of the leading stocks on a big blackboard.

  We have certainly come a long way in a relatively short time. Now high-speed electronic transactions are routine. The global information highway is expanding explosively and our domestic economy is becoming increasingly global. What does this portend for investors as we approach the next millennium?

  For one thing, we can look forward to ever-increasing volume on the exchanges. As information becomes available faster and in more detail, trading gets easier. Traders now have a wide range of options. You can trade online, you can contact some brokerage houses twenty-four hours a day, and you can even trade on your own computer.

  Secondly, the trend toward a global economy will continue and accelerate. As information becomes more speedily available, it becomes easier for Americans to buy stocks and bonds in European, Asian, and third-world countries. Such trading by individual investors in mutual funds is already commonplace. Of course, foreigners are also getting more heavily involved in U.S. markets.

  Information is a precious commodity. Throughout history there has always been a premium on being the first to know. Rothschild used carrier pigeons for business communication. Then came the telegraph, the ticker, and the telephone. Many companies use conference calls to compare notes, devise strategy, and report on earnings. Now we have computers and the Internet on which ever-increasing numbers of people are exchanging information.

  In my grad school days, I used to go to the library to pore over old Standard & Poor’s directories to get information on the performance of companies. Now all I have to do is punch a few buttons on my computer and a mass of statistical data is at my fingertips.

  People have always been hungry for advance knowledge that could be put to financial gain. Consequently, we see more and more newspapers, newsletters, magazines, and TV programs devoted to news about stocks. Perhaps we are getting too much information to use intelligently. But are things basically different than they used to be?

  I don’t think so. Remember, the purpose of getting news fast is to get the jump on the next guy. But now everyone has the same easy access to all kinds of information affecting the markets. That makes the playing field about as level as it has ever been.

  As an analogy, consider the development of tanks and machine guns. If only one party had them in the Civil War, it would have made a decisive difference. In World War II, all nations had these weapons so there was no great advantage to either side. However, how these weapons were deployed led to either victory or defeat. It is the same with the stock market. With virtually the same mass of information available to everyone, it is how you use it that counts.

  Unfortunately, specific stock market decisions are not easier to make now that so much information is available. For example, it was obvious in the early 1920s that the automobile industry was certain to grow and revolutionize transportation. So, should you have bought auto stocks?

  Well, it depends. It has always been extremely difficult to pick the winners. At that time Ford was not yet a public company. But, over the years, you could have bought the makers of cars that are only memories today—Hupmobile, Stanley Steamer, Stutz, and Nash, to name a few. Dozens of auto-related companies have disappeared. If you had bought General Motors you would have done well. Chrysler almost went under a couple of times but, if you held on, you would have done okay. Everyone else is gone.

  The same holds true for airlines. Fifty or sixty years ago you would have known that the industry would take off. So you might have bought National or Eastern Airlines or some others that no longer exist.

  More recently, we have had computers—mainframe, software, hardware—the works. The industry was sure to expand at a rapid rate. Again, the hard part was to pick the winners. In the early stages, IBM and the so-called “Bunch” group were the dominant computer stocks. The “Bunch” line-up consisted of B (Burroughs), U (Univac, which is part of Sperry-Rand), N (NCR or National Cash Register), C (Control Data), and H (Honeywell). IBM, which used to be the leader, is presently not doing so well and the others are out of the business or having hard times.

  If the information explosion does not make it simpler to pick winning stocks, it has given us a lot more ways to speculate. In the old days, you could buy stocks on margin and that was basically it. Now you can easily enter foreign markets, trade options and futures, trade currencies, and much more. And you don’t have to be an institution to do this—you can trade on your own. Thus there are many more ways you can get yourself into trouble, especially with investments in IRAs and 401-k plans that so many people count on for their retirement.

  At this writing in early-1997, mutual funds have assets of over $3 trillion and money continues to pour in. Despite the steady infusion of cash, the market is not and never was a one-way street. Unprecedented in our history, we have not had even a 10% correction in six years. The last bear market—which I consider represents a drop of at least 20% in the broad market averages—was at the end of 1990. This cannot go on forever.

  We have not had a bone-crunching bear market since 1973–1974. Back then it was awful because the market seemed to deteriorate day after day, finally bottoming in 1974. Now we are in 1997, twenty-three years after the depths of the worst market since the depression. Whole new generations of investors and professionals have come into Wall Street. Fewer and fewer individuals are around who lived through the brutal bear market of the early 1970s. Many in today’s market only know of good times or a short-lived bear market. Unless they play their cards right, these people could run into a meat-grinder they haven’t anticipated.

  This is not a prediction. I am talking about reality. The stock market can only throw off a return that is reasonably commensurate with economic growth. In the short run, an undervalued market can yield a higher than normal return. But when returns become excessive for several years, it means that the market has outgrown economic growth and we would probably see a few years of below normal or even negative returns.

  Winning on Wall Street can be even more helpful under these circumstances than if we are in a prosperous period. If the market were to go up every year, you don’t need me and you don’t need this book. Just buy your stocks and hold them. If you had done just that in the 1980s, you probably would have done well despite some uncomfortable moments in 1987 and a few other times. But I think this is a particularly poor strategy for the late-1990s and beyond.

  How should you, the reader of this book, react to the constantly changing circumstances? Basically, I think you should shun the idea of buy-and-hold. I consider it a fallacious strategy. In the coming decade we are likely to see more bear markets and deeper ones. To lower risk, there will be periods when you should peel back your investments in the stock and bond markets. It’s a matter of degree. You don’t have to go 100% to cash but you should cut back as risk rises and invest as risk recedes. I believe my market-timing methods in this book will help you do just that.

  There is a frequently heard saying on Wall Street that “this time it is different.” If you believe this, it is at your own peril. Yes, each time is slightly different but there always are a lot of similarities. As Yogi Berra might have said, the similarities are different. But you learn from history—and history has a way of repeating itself with subtle differences.

  For example, as you will find in this book, when the Federal Reserve tightens and interest rates rise, stock markets tend to perform poorly—and vice
versa. By following my indicators, you will be flexible, buying when conditions are favorable and selling when prospects darken. Don’t fight yourself and don’t be stubborn. When the fundamentals deteriorate for a particular stock, you should get out whether you have a profit or a loss. Don’t refuse to take a loss because of your ego.

  That lesson is important enough to repeat for emphasis. Don’t cling to a stock because you can’t afford to bruise your ego by selling at a loss. Remember, no one wins all the time. In baseball, a .300 hitter is terrific and a .330 hitter may make the Hall of Fame. That means that a player who makes outs two-thirds of the time is Hall of Fame material. So don’t expect to bat .1000 in the stock market. It’s impossible—mistakes are part of the game. Accept your mistakes, deal with them, and learn from them.

  Even if you invest primarily in mutual funds, my guidelines will work for you. You won’t need my stock-picking techniques but the real guts of this book are not about stock picking anyhow. Most important is the use of my various indicators to guard against risk in the market.

  To give you an idea of what can happen with mutual funds, I obtained some statistics from Lipper & Co., a monitor of mutual funds. Had you purchased a package of the growth funds Lipper follows at the end of 1968, you would not have made money a decade later. It was something like ten-and-a-half years before you were really ahead. There were a few periods in 1971 or 1972 when you would have shown a profit but you would have lost back the money later.

  Imagine buying a group of growth funds and still not realizing a profit ten years later. Unfortunately, that is the reality from time to time. I believe my time-tested methods described in this book can be most valuable during such periods. If my models indicate that risk is rising, sell appropriate portions of your mutual funds and buy them back when my indicators turn around.