Read This If You Don’t Like to Be Fooled or Surprised

The FAANGs barely blipped on Friday, suggesting they will continue to drag the broad averages lower. They fell by nearly 3%, performing much worse than the Dow and S&P 500, which shed, respectively, 0.7% and 1.0%. Expect portfolio managers to continue rotating money between the high-fliers and the stock market’s also-rans, with the goal of sustaining a passable illusion of buoyancy in both. However, next time shares across all sectors move synchronously, be ready for the move to be steeply lower. We should remain open in the meantime to the possibility of sharp, out-of-the-blue rallies like last Wednesday’s post-election show of bravado. It was driven entirely by short-covering that for the time being will remain capable of pushing a relative handful of stocks to new record-highs. AAPL in particular, because it is the most valuable company in the world, can tell us how likely this is to happen. It is an infallible proxy for institutional mindset, along with AMZN, which will be with it each step of the way. These two stocks will keep us confidently on the right side of the trend. If you don’t like to be fooled or surprised, stay tuned them — and to Rick’s Picks .