Popular Investments Are Plunging, but I'm Not Worried
Amazon (AMZN) is down 18%.
Microsoft (MSFT) has dropped 24%.
Silver has fallen 30%.
Salesforce (CRM) and other software stocks are at 52-week lows.
And bitcoin has plunged 44% from its recent highs.
There are plenty of folks who loaded up on these popular investments and are feeling the pain right now. They probably think the good times are over – that this bull run is all but done for.
They're wrong.
Sure, some of the biggest stocks are down. But this is mostly because they were priced near perfection. We're simply seeing a lot of stocks and assets take a breather after a huge run higher in 2025. (Software is another story – the market is worried this sector will lose pricing power because of artificial intelligence ["AI"].)
But I need to pound the table once again...
This is a healthy market.
And overall, most stocks are doing great.
For example, the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index is breaking out...
We can also gauge the health of the market by looking at the "advance/decline" line.
Regular readers are familiar with this measure... You take the number of stocks that went up on a given day and subtract the number that went down. If more went up that day, the line goes up. If more went down, the line goes down.
In a typical bull market, as the market goes up, the advance/decline line goes up, too. When the advance/decline line moves lower while the market continues to go up, then it's time to worry. It means the gains are concentrated in only a few companies.
We're not seeing that today. In fact, the advance/decline line for all stocks on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") is at a fresh all-time high.
Last week, I told you that nearly 70% of NYSE stocks were trading above their 200-day moving averages (200-DMAs). When this happened in the past, the S&P 500 Index was up an average of 19% one year later.
It's an incredibly bullish signal.
Here's another data point that shows the same thing...
Right now, 19% of S&P 500 stocks are at 52-week highs.
In past instances like this, the S&P 500 was higher six to 12 months later... every time.
The average gain six months after this occurs is 8.6%. And the average gain one year later is 16.2%. Take a look...
I don't want to sound like a broken record. But you need to keep your money in stocks this year...
Even though market valuations are stretched, there are plenty of buying opportunities.
One of my favorite buys today is actually in the beaten-down software sector.
The market is convinced that AI will disrupt this business. But recent results prove that's not even close to accurate. Still, Mr. Market is ignoring all the glaring signs that AI is actually going to help this business.
This is one of the most profitable companies in the world. And it's trading at a 15-year low valuation.
It's one of the best buys I've seen in a long time.
Retirement Millionaire subscribers can read about this company, which we added to our portfolio last year, by clicking here.
If you aren't already subscribed to Retirement Millionaire, you can click here to learn more about signing up.
(Our next issue of Retirement Millionaire publishes later tonight... In it, we're recommending one of the best dividend-paying stocks out there that's also trading near a decade-low valuation.)
Like I said, there are plenty of great buying opportunities to take advantage of in this raging bull market.
What We're Reading...
- Did you miss it? Expect a rocky next few weeks.
- Something different: How to read people and master your body language to be more influential at work.
Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,
Jeff Havenstein
February 11, 2026