Investment Environment:

• Earnings and inflation are rising, while interest rates are falling or on hold.
• New housing starts rose by an unexpected 3% in October to an annualized 1.229 million.
• Single-family starts dropped for the 7th consecutive month in October by 7.3% for an 884,000 rate, a 16-year low.
• Building permits, a gauge of future demand, also fell in October by 6.6%, a 14-year low.
• The National Association of Home Builder's Optimism Index remained at 19 for the second straight month in November and the lowest reading on the Index since its inception in 1985.
• Large declines in housing permits, initial claims for unemployment insurance and the Index of Consumer Expectations pushed the Leading Index 0.5% lower in October, a 2-year low.
• Jobless claims fell by 11,000 to 330,000 in the week ended November 17th.
• Crude oil topped $99 per barrel last week
• U.S. crude supplies fell for the 2nd week.

All the indicators I follow (see philosophy) at or near where the stock market bottomed in August, I just haven’t seen capitulation in the VIX, an intra-day spike with a powerful reversal would be perfect to call a bottom. Although we may not get a perfect situation its not unreasonable to have a list of stocks to buy and start entering them piecemeal in the next couple of days. There still may be some room to move to the downside but damage should be limited.