Top Trades Outside of Tech

This column was originally published on RealMoney on Jan. 25 at 12:10 p.m. EST. It's being republished as a bonus for TheStreet.com readers. For more information about subscribing to RealMoney, please click here.

After three weeks of stomach-wrenching turns, the tech sector is so disjointed that it's almost impossible to figure out how to play the group. You can chase around these four-letter favorites if you want, but I'd rather risk my capital in more reliable corners of the market. Let's focus today on the top non-tech trades.

To get a leg up on them, I've been scanning my databases, looking for rotation that exposes the stealthy action of speculators placing bets on new sectors, ideas and trade setups. This is January, the time of year when fresh cash burns big holes in the pockets of market players, so I figure that folks won't be sitting on the sidelines for too long, waiting for the elusive all-clear signal.

Big chunks of capital have poured into blue-chips, retail and biotech stocks in the past few weeks, but where is the rest of it going? Let's see where the money might be headed as we approach the second month of this interesting year. ...