Even in a Bear Market, Not All Sectors Are Down

Last year, eight out of 10 major sectors went up. The reverse is happening this year. Eight out of the 10 are now in negative territory. Materials and energy are the only holdouts. Is either one worth investing in? Or are they just laggards that will be heading down any day now?

As a matter of fact, the materials sector had a lousy June. It fell 2.5 percent. And it certainly looks like materials is following the rest of the market down (though belatedly). That leaves energy.

But energy is a tricky sector. It covers everything from the oil majors to small alt-energy start-ups. Some of these niches are doing well; others, not so well. My advice is to focus on oil services. That industry has gone up more than 15 percent in the last three months. The main markets (except for Nasdaq) went down around 10 percent during the same period.

I like the rig contractors. I’ve recommended a couple of them to my subscribers, and they’re doing great. And since the beginning of the year, they’ve done better than most other oil-related stocks. Just let the market tell you which ones to invest in. Look up a few and put them on a six-month chart. See which ones rose the highest in that time, and invest in the top two or three.

[Ed. Note: In the coming years, the energy companies will spend nearly $10 trillion (yes, trillion!) finding and extracting new sources of oil and gas. Andrew Gordon has uncovered two best-in-class drilling rig companies that will be on the receiving end of this tidal wave of cash. And he’s ready to reveal them to you. Learn more here.]