Programming Note: John Blank was on CNBC’s Closing Bell this afternoon discussing how Alibaba’s recent pullback is really a buying opportunity. Watch his appearance right here. It’s a good thing we got that recent four-day rally when we did, because otherwise we would have suffered through even more boring, low volume, summer days like this. “Today was simply a day for traders to make their money and go to the beach or play some golf. There was some opportunity early, but after the first hour, there just wasn’t much going on,” said Jeremy in Counterstrike. “This is the summer trade defined: Make money early and get out before you lose it.” The Dow again saw the biggest decline as it slipped 0.30% to 25,657. The index surely did not appreciate tariffs on $16 billion worth of Chinese goods going into effect today, nor China’s retaliation in kind. The two sides were still talking about trade in Washington today, but it didn’t make any difference on the deadline and appears to be validating the low expectations going into the talks. The index heads into Friday’s session down only about 12 points for the week, though it would take quite a rally to equal or surpass last week’s 1.4% advance. The S&P slipped 0.17% to 2857 and the Russell 2000 hit an intraday high before dropping to end 0.32% lower to 1717.05. The biggest disappointment was the NASDAQ, which had a five-session winning streak heading into Thursday and looked like it would be able to stretch it to six. But it eventually succumbed to the summer doldrums too and declined 0.13% to 7878.5. Today's Portfolio Highlights: Income Investor: The retailers are having a strong earnings season, so Ryan wants to gain some exposure to the space. He added a department store giant that made a lot of news recently…Macy’s (M). You undoubtedly remember this stock plunged by 15% last Wednesday (Aug 15) despite reporting a positive earnings surprise and raising guidance in its most recent quarter. The editor believes that selloff was “vastly” overblown, and he’s being proven right as shares have been recovering ever since the plunge. And in addition to all this, M provides a “juicy” dividend yield of 4%. Ryan added the stock on Thursday as a replacement for selling sluggish construction services firm H&E Equipment Services (HEES). Read the complete commentary for more on all of today’s trades. Momentum Trader: Autonomous driving is one of those “buzz” terms that get investors really excited these days…and Dave is no different. On Thursday, he bought a 12.5% allocation in AVX Corp. (AVX), a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) manufacturer of advance electronic components used in AI and machine learning. The editor thinks its participation in a panel discussion at COMVEC 2018 early next month could be a catalyst moving forward. He also likes that AVX recently broke a downward trend line across a series of lower highs in its chart. Learn more in the full write-up. Technology Innovators: Several years ago, Brian Bolan saw a 60 Minutes report about Bloom Energy (BE), a renewable energy company that has a product called the Bloom Energy Server. This “Bloom Box” takes input fuels and produces electricity on or near the site where it is used. Think of it like your own personal power plant. The editor thought it was a fascinating idea, but put it in the back of his mind because it wasn’t public. Well, that’s changed. It recently went IPO and has seen 100% year over year growth, which should continue for at least one more quarter. BE will probably grab Wall Street’s attention after its next report, so the editor wasted no time in picking this one up for the portfolio today while its still under the radar. See the full write-up for more. Until Tomorrow, Jim Giaquinto Recommendations from Zacks' Private Portfolios: Believe it or not, this article is not available on the Zacks.com website. The commentary is a partial overview of the daily activity from Zacks' private recommendation services. If you would like to follow our Buy and Sell signals in real time, we've made a special arrangement for readers of this website. Starting today you can see all the recommendations from all of Zacks' portfolios absolutely free for 7 days. Our services cover everything from value stocks and momentum trades to insider buying and positive earnings surprises (which we've predicted with an astonishing 80%+ accuracy). Click here to "test drive" Zacks Ultimate for FREE >> Zacks Investment Research