Last week we pointed out the seemingly bizarro strategy [3] that by now must have become mainstream mantra that buy-and-hold is dead but buy-the-dips-in-the-most-hated-stocks is a winning strategy. Since we pointed this out, our index of the 30 most shorted stocks has surged by 5% compared to a measly 2% (Fed-assisted) gain in the S&P itself. It appears the break with reality started on Tuesday morning (pre-empting the Fed high beta ramp?) and today's sell-off is seeing the index of the shortest-of-the-shorts give some gains back from an open over 6% to around 5% currently. For most managers, their year is done - a 300bps outperformance - for others, we suggest perhaps reducing size a little. It appears the man behind the curtain may just have removed some of the juice for more bizarro strategies (and maybe take those hard-earned gains and buy gold) as even with ZIRP extended, QE's nominal surge will likely remain absent until we see some market (otherwise known to Bernanke as the economy) disruption (and we suspect the names to suffer will not be the Utilities - that have outperformed handily post FOMC - and remember high beta up and higher beta down).
[4]
Chart: Bloomberg