Strategy

Church Street Advisors: John Murphy's Market Letter

A simple but proven method of increasing your portfolio’s returns

My objective is to help you implement proven investment strategies from John Murphy's Market Letter. John J. Murphy, former technical analyst for CNBC, offers more than 35 years of market experience and is author of several best-selling books, including Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets -- which is widely regarded as the standard reference in the field. His newest book, The Visual Investor, breaks down technical analysis into terms that are easily understandable by individual investors. His newsletter can be accessed at www.stockcharts.com.

Having spent my entire career in the investment business and studying scores of strategists, I have come to this conclusion: John Murphy's work is far superior to anything offered anywhere on Wall Street. Take a moment and review his archives for the last five years. Everything that he said, and when he said it, is carefully recorded. Not only did he call the major trends, but he reiterated his views over and over and over again.

In the four months surrounding the top in the housing market, you’ll see 15 emails talking about the major top in housing. There are emails detailing the tops in Lehman, Citicorp, Bear Sterns, and Countrywide, as well as the destruction of the Financial Index (XLF). He correctly guided his readers through the meltdown of 2007-2008, and even called the bottom within a few days.

The problem most investors have with reading Murphy is applying his ideas to their investment strategy. As Murphy points out:

MY JOB IS TO PRESENT PROMISING IDEAS ... I generally don't issue specific buy and sell signals. [The main reason I don't is that every reader has a different risk threshold and time horizon. What's a good buy for one might not be for another. What's good for a short-term trader might not be for a long-term investor. I've also found in the past that specific buy-and-sell recommendations meant for one group are often misunderstood by other groups]. Instead, what I do is to show which markets or which market sectors are starting to look more attractive on both an absolute and a relative basis. I try to avoid those that don't. I leave it up to you to examine those ideas further to see if they fit into your investment philosophy. That necessitates some work on your part and some knowledge of charting principles. I don't, however, tell you what to buy and sell. I spend a lot of time working through all of the market noise to find those markets that show some promise. It's up to you to decide what to do with those ideas.

That is where I come in. I can help you put his ideas to work to help you achieve investment success. I would encourage you to subscribe to his newsletter at www.stockcharts.com. For $20 a month, it is a virtual steal. Also read his newest book, The Visual Investor. And feel free to call me anytime. I personally invest in all of Murphy’s ideas -- that's the best recommendation that I can make.