The Bomb Cyclone that terrorized the North East last week wasn’t the only blizzard hitting the ground in 2018. The stock market, which dove into the new year with exuberant gains, rose 2.6% in its first four trading days.

At this rate, gains for the year would clock in well above 100%. The Nasdaq, which suffered a mild bout of unrest near year-end, charged forward an even higher 3.3%.

Seeing that the market’s average total return (including dividends) for the past 90 years is less than 10%, it looks like we’ve got twenty percent of the year wrapped up in one holiday-shortened work week!

Of course, contrary to how 2017 behaved, most markets don’t move in a straight line. They typically gasp forward, retrench, and then creep again. As a reminder to anyone who started following the market post-2008, the gasping and creeping is not always a move up.

I expect some panicky volatility in some sectors this year and am busy at work digging for what I expect to be successful bearish plays within this bull supercycle. Keep your eyes peeled for more trading ideas.

Last week I suggested booking the Lam Research (NSDQ: LRCX) calls, which rocketed up 43% in less than two weeks. When I see a robust gain like this in a short period of time, I will often suggest booking it. Options are mercurial creatures whose value can flip quickly so a gain in hand is always appreciated.

We still hold the Ichor Systems (NSDQ: ICHR) and Applied Materials (NSDQ: AMAT) calls, which are bullish plays on the same semiconductor equipment theme. If my prediction rings true that investors will continue to pile into these stocks after a brief exodus last month, these two positions should generate nice gains.

I also suggested selling the Steelcase (NSDQ: SCS) calls. I am still positive on Steelcase’s stock but these call options expire on January 19th. The stock continues to bump around the $15 exercise price so I suggest collecting the bit of value they have. Unless the stock moves significantly higher than $15 in the next week, these calls will lose value extremely quickly.

As a reminder, if a stock is trading below the exercise price of your call at expiration, the call option will expire worthlessly.

At the same time, I’m working on some new long ideas (basic stock and call options along with them) which I expect to add to the portfolio shortly.

Around the Portfolio:

Applied Materials (NSDQ: AMAT) got a boost from positive comments from analyst Patrick Ho at Stifel. He believes the company will continue to outperform overall wafer fabrication equipment (WFE) trends. The stock is his top large-cap stock pick, as he believes wafer fab equipment spending will see another record year in 2018 and that the company can once again outpace the industry and its peers.

Canaccord analyst Dewey Steadman believes ANI Pharmaceuticals (NSDQ: ANIP) is one of the best-positioned names in the emerging generics space. He noted its addition of branded drug applications from AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN), additional cash on hand, available credit facilities for future transactions, and a solid core business as reasons for his bullishness. He raised his price target to $77 from $75.

Celgene (NSDQ: CELG) continues to get knocked around by negative analyst calls. Last week it was downgraded to Neutral at BofA/Merrill analyst Ying Huang who also lowered its price target to $120 from $129 due to lack of catalysts, headwinds from Revlimid competition, and reduced product sales expectations.

My bullish call on Celgene is based on the idea that estimates have already been reduced sufficiently to compensate for the above concerns. I would note that the BofA analyst’s new $120 target on the stock is 20% higher than where the stock stands today and $10 higher than the $110 exercise price on our calls.

The company reports earnings on or about January 24. I expect earnings to be in line with lowered estimates. The stock is down almost 30% since the first estimate cut, and the bet is that it will rise on the earnings event as investors realize estimates reflect a worst-case scenario.

Brokerage firm Leerink picked up coverage of Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NSDQ: JAZZ) with an Outperform rating and a $180 price target. While that target is below my $198 goal for the shares, it represents 44% upside from current levels. Analyst Ami Fadia believes the Xyrem franchise is more stable than the market gives it credit for and that a strong pipeline of new drugs will help diversify its revenue.