We Called It

As the adage goes…

“It ain’t braggin’ if it’s true!”

StreetBrains analysts have spent the first 24 days of 2008 beefing up the benchmark for correctly calling market moves. Below are some of the items that StreetBrains independent analysts have nailed in the past few weeks.

(See how smart analysts can be when they’re able to say what they’re really seeing and hearing, rather than being muzzled by investment bankers, traders, and compliance departments?)

Steve Digilio, The Bank Notes, told us in November ’07 that ’08 would bring at least one major bank consolidation or acquisition, and 3 top bank CEO departures/ousters. 24 days in, we have already seen Countrywide acquired by Bank of America, and Jimmy Cane step down as CEO of Bear Stearns.

In September ’07, Larry Rothman of DebtVisions made the definitive call that retail was in a tailspin. To date (from his call on 9/28), the RLX has declined 13.8%.

On January 9th, 2008, Jim Sterling of the Sterling Account (who was up a whopping 44% last year on his calls) wrote a report titled “Throwing In the Sponge” where he advised the exiting of all energy stocks. He still loves many of the companies, but the stocks are going to continue to be battered for a long while out, he claims. Since January 9th, the XLE is down 7.95%.

Gotham Research proves that there’s money to be made, even in a bear market – if you’re nimble. The following 3 pairs have brought in generous returns when closed out today:

IEF/XLE – iShares Lehman 7-10 Year Treasury Bond Fund vs. Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund. Closed long IEF and short XLE spread from 9/21/07 with an advance of 26.04%.

USB/SPY – U.S. Bancorp vs. SPDR Trust Series I. Closed a long USB and short SPY spread from 1/10/08 with an advance of 17.35%.

ONB/VTI – Old National Bancorp vs. Vanguard ETF Total Stock Market. Closed a long ONB and short VTI spread from 12/12/07 with an advance of 18.46%.

Last but certainly not least, Steve Frenkel of PatternWatch, whose several CNBC appearances in the past few weeks you can find in blogs below, has also been consistently spot on in calling the Dow, S&P, Gold, and CCI Index moves. Click here to view his most recent television appearance, where he discusses the current state of the market.