Weekly View Friday 8 January 2010...

I'm doing the weekly review and preview a bit early this week because I've got a mini-trip this weekend and want to get a bit ahead on posting so I can run the screens and update my watchlists and get my picks out for today and the weekend (the screens update based on the previous day's close overnight). I'll post again Sunday with the screen results overview and a separate post for each new pick. In that post, I'll also discuss a hybrid scoring approach to create a total score between fundamentals (screen results) and technicals (the chart).

Weekly Review:
Last week was a good week for the bulls. They kept the market powering broadly higher despite an array of what could be considered bad news. This is positive seasonality in action. I made no trades last week, but there are some solid opportunities forming on several watchlist picks. I summed these up in Friday's daily view.

Weekly Preview:
This week is everyone's favourite week of the month. Yes, it's options expiration week, when we often see some pretty chaotic action. That will especially be the case this time around because this is when a lot of LEAPS expire (in your typical options chain, right now the only options you can buy for 2011 or beyond are in January). Also, options expiration week typically brings at least one painful down day. Pullbacks are your best friend when you're underinvested, and a lot of people are.

For a preview of this week's major economic announcements, I'll send you here. Michael McDonough does a better job of summing this stuff up than I could. Since this is a stock-picking blog versus an economics blog, I typically won't talk about this kind of stuff. Also, for a better preview of the week's market-related events, I'd recommend going here. TheStreet.com typically has a good weekly preview article for more stock-related events.

UPDATE 10 January 2010:

I ran the screens this weekend and the results were as follows:

Four stocks showing over four screens of interest (some and strong), three of which are on the watchlist.
15 stocks showing four screens of interest (some or strong), one of which is on the watchlist.
74 stocks showing three screens of interest (some or strong), two of which are on the watchlist.
35 stocks showing two screens of strong interest, none of which are presently on the watchlist.

We also had some updates to a few existing picks.

CEU entered the watchlist at 0/3 and is now 1/2. The Motley Fool screen increased from 85% to 91%.

RGR entered the watchlist at 1/4 and is now 1/3. The Dreman screen dropped from 69% to 50% and the Motley Fool screen dropped from 87% to 60%.

ROST entered the watchlist at 3/3 and is now 2/3. The only change I can see is the Momentum screen increased from 43% to 71%, so I don't know what the deal is there.

Position: none

Disclaimer: This is not a recommendation and is presented for informational purposes only.