CONTEMPLATIONS, REFLECTIONS AND CLAIRVOYANCE

Looking at the past year, we've experienced ups and downs in the market. We started off strong, stunmbled in May recovered in August and had a very strong rally into the close of the year. With the Dow hitting all time highs and the S&P 500 not too far behind , 2006 was a great year for those long the equity indices. In individual sectors and stocks we have had a mix of good and bad.

First with the good. RIMM had an exceptional year. A nice 100% gain though one could have made more if they traded it through highs and lows. CRS was positively on fire through the early part of the year and one of my big winners (until I was stopped out). TIE was another rocket in the same group as CRS and I sort of regret passing TIE over for CRS. It was a toss up between TIE, ATI and CRS and I choose the slowest horse. Oh well, a 70% gain isn't so bad though I missed out on a 150% plus on the other 2. Speaking off ATI. The chart says it all. How could I have missed it ? What a Monster !! Speaking of monster the energy drink, here is a chart of HANS. I got stopped out early in the year with a small profit. I hated what happened next though I did manage to get short in the $180-200 range and ride it down to $120-130 pre-split . NTRI rocketed upwards with no stopping it till May and than recovered nicely for another big run which ended in what looks like a double top as evident from the charts ( May and December peaks). ZOLT was one hell off a stock and though it closed the year badly, it made a lot of people very rich. ERS could well have been the stock off the year if people had been smart enough to get off in early May. 600% gain in 5 months . Spectacular !! Than another huge potential gain for anyone going short. WOW !! Just look at the charts.

Now to the not so good. Does anyone think GOOG's best days are behind it ? This is one stock that is all over the place. How is someone supposed to stay long or short a stock like this ? AAPL another totally unpredictable stock. Great for trading though. Look how RACK got decimated midyear though it pulled through at the end. NETL was downright ugly. Look at this crazy stock IFON . Jan though April downtrend, huge spike in April till early June and than total collapse through July before a couple of run ups and than a reversal to a downtrend. Great for trading by the seat of your pants. A killer in most ways though. This was a pretty crapy year for EBAY till the lows in June July. YHOO had a pretty terrible year. It was a year that had it all. The good, the bad and the ugly.