[PLUS] Weekly Momentum Report & Takeaways

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Check out this week's Momentum Report, our weekly summation of all the major indexes at a Macro, International, Sector, and Industry Group level.

By analyzing the short-term data in these reports, we get a more tactical view of the current state of markets. This information then helps us put near-term developments into the context of the big picture and provides insights regarding the structural trends at play.

Let's jump right into it with some of the major takeaways from this week's report:

* ASC Plus Members can access the Momentum Report by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.

Macro Universe:

• Our Macro list experienced widespread weakness this week as 81% of assets closed lower with a median return of -1.29%.
• The VIX index was the big winner, closing out the week with more than a 27% gain and registering fresh 13-week highs in the process.
• The biggest loser this week was Lumber, falling -7.13%
• This week, we saw a 6% drop in the percentage of assets on our list that are within 5% of their 52-week highs (from 68% down to 62%).
• 23% of our list made new 4-week lows but only 2% made fresh 13-week lows.
  • We'll be watching to see if this internal weakness spreads to longer timeframes in the coming weeks.
• 51% of our macro universe closed lower than last week's lows.
• We saw bearish reversals from the Nasdaq Composite $COMPX, Nasdaq 100 $QQQ, and Russell 1000 Growth $IWF this week.
• There was no change in the percentage of bullish vs bearish momentum regimes, which remained steady at 53%.

International Universe:

• International Equities experienced pressure this week as 85% of our list closed lower with a median return of -1.79%.
• China $ASHR was the leader and bucked the trend with a 3.13% gain.
• Nigeria $NGE was this week's big loser dropping a massive -6.42%.
• This week, we saw bearish reversals in Argentina $ARGT, Ireland $EIRL, and Germany $EWG.
• Our international universe felt some damage as the percentage of assets within 5% of their 52-week highs dropped 12% to just 54%.
• Momentum regimes remain constructive from a structural perspective, as 69% of the ETFs on our list are in bullish range.
• 17% of the ETFs posted new 4-week lows, so we haven't seen the recent breadth expansion deteriorate in any material way.

US Sector Universe:

• Our sector universe had a tough week across the board, as 100% of our list closed lower, with a median return of -2.21%.
• The biggest loser of the week was Mid-Cap REITs which dropped -4%.
• We saw 32% of our sector list post fresh 4-week lows.
• There was a substantial drop in the percentage of our list within 5% of their 52-week highs as this figure fell from 81% to 57%.
• 81% of our sector universe closed lower than last week's lows.
  • We've seen stocks snap right back after similar weeks with this kind of broad-based weakness since last fall:

• All those new highs from recent weeks have disappeared.
• However, the outlook remains strong from a structural perspective as 74% of our list is in a bullish momentum regime.

US Industry Universe:

• The performance from our Industry universe was also rough as 93% closed lower with a median return of -1.90%.
• The week's biggest winner was Uranium $URA, which bucked the trend and rallied over 10%.
• The biggest loser of the week was Gold Miners $GDX which dropped -5.35%.
• 24% of industry groups made fresh 4-week lows.
• We saw bearish reversals from Oil Refiners $CRAK, Internet $FDN, and Cyber Security $HACK.
• The percentage of our list in bullish momentum regimes saw no change this week, with a current reading of 63%.
• Only 37% of the assets on our industry list are within 5% of their 52-week highs. Bulls would like to see some improvement here.

That's it for this week's highlights!