The Bad News Victims of 2008 are the New Victors of 2009

The Bad News Victors—
Where to Go Long for 2009
The Homebuilders

As I wrote above, they actually outperformed the market and selected names blew up—but timing was critical. The January and summer rallies –which was based on emotion and words (plus some short covering), not economic reality or earnings — killed some positions.

The lesson for 2009 is the same as 2008: Short selected names with very weak balance sheets, like the ones I mentioned on page 3. Avoid the ETFs.