Doug Kass Hits The Bid And Sells FCX, FAF, FNF, STC, BEN

Doug Kass who recently went long the market, altered his thesis today and decided to hit the bid and go short the market. Kass thinks now is an appropriate time to change his view and raise some cash, but he still does not believe we will surpass the March lows.

Doug Kass wrote on Real Money what he sees now parallels strongly with 1937-1939 interim interval.
An excerpt from what Kass wrote today,
"Too Many Booyahs Now?
I am going to stay true to what brought me here -- namely, my baseline expectation and forecast expressed in early March, which, again, parallels the slope of the stock market in 1937-1939 -- and suggest that it is now an appropriate time to raise some cash.

Within the context of the greatest political circus ever televised, stocks have not improved because of the government; they are improving despite the government. And in the face of an unprecedented five up 90% days in March, the current rally is clearly different this time and more durable than others that preceded it.

Even though market internals have been steadily improving, the Nouriel Roubini Stock Market Bottom is in and a generational low has likely been reached (and will not be breached), so the move now seems stretched as the fear of being out has been replaced the early March fear of being in.

The gloom and doom that permeated the investment scene in early March is now disappearing. My sense is that, not unexpectedly, investor optimism is now on the rise and that sentiment indicators will exhibit that heightened optimism as they are released in the days ahead. This coupled with overbought technical indicators lead me to a more cautious view now."

Since Kass believes there will be some short-term downside in the market, Kass decided to short the following stocks today.

• Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX)
  
• First American (NYSE: FAF),
  
• Fidelity National Financial (NYSE: FNF)
  
• Stewart Information Services (NYSE: STC)
  
• Franklin Resources (NYSE: BEN)

Freeport-McMoRan is trading down close 3%, First American is down 2.75%, Fidelity National Financial is down 4.75%, Stewart Information Services is down 3.50% and Franklin Resources is currently trading down 1%.

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