One of These Things Just Doesn't Belong Here

Don't own a stock that you wouldn't buy today. I've read this in many different books, in many different ways. The biggest folly of the amateur investor is holding losers too long and selling winners too soon.

This is the only time I will ever endorse the opposite. I've been holding Nabors Industries since the beginning of the new year, and all I have to say is: Watch me folly! I wouldn't buy it and I'm holding on. Sounds ridiculous to me too. In any case, today I'm suggesting to short sell Halliburton (HAL)

To get a good look at the overall oil services picture, lets look at Oil Services Holders (OIH). This is a collective trust of oil service stocks, basically like an index. This is its weekly chart

• The three blue lines show a head and shoulders pattern (very negative)
• The blue circle is the MACD crossing the 0 line (very negative)
• Finally, the arrows in eccentricly happy green show bottoms in the slow stochastic (possibly positive)

Many people are shorting these OIH stocks, and for good reason, as stocks like Halliburton (HAL) are showing the worst charts of all. Here are the weekly and daily charts.

• On BOTH the daily and weekly charts the stock has broken supports, creating an amazing amount of resistance lines. (50DMA, 200DMA, and trend line for the daily, 50DMA and trend line for the weekly)
• The 50DMA is starting to cross over the 200DMA on the daily chart
• Daily slow stochastics are overbought

Aside from charts, Halliburton has been having random troubles that could disrupt future earnings.

Now for Nabors, here is it's daily chart

• NBR is sitting on its support (positive)
  
• The MACD has just started to cross (negative)

Although I am a technical trader at heart, I can't drop this stock. Why? ALL 3 of the most respected investment research services have the highest possible rating for NBR . As always I can't go into further detail because these are subscription services. If you don't subscribe to any I always suggest you try one out, as most have free trials.

Also as a bonus, Jim Cramer is also very bullish on NBR.

The problem is that many oil service stocks should be moving downward, and the pressure could force Nabors downward in sympathy. As Sesame Street used to say "One of these things just doesn't belong here," and Nabors is it.

Hopefully groupthink won't force the good down with the bad. Short sell Halliburton (HAL)