I'm out in Newport Beach, CA for a few days hanging out at an industry conference called Future Proof. 

I don't even know where to start with these guys.

I've had a front row seat to watch my good friend Josh Brown partner up with Barry Ritholtz, hire Michael Batnick and many others along the way, and turn a small advisory into a $5 Billion AUM firm - one of the fastest growing Financial Advisors in the United States.

It was awesome when they were first coming up and putting on conferences. They were big, but still small and intimate in their own ways.

Now they're just way too successful.

That band that was cool when just a few people knew about them has gone mainstream. 

There are way too many people here. It's absolutely insane.

My friends are rockstars. And I couldn't be happier to see all of their success.

I say there are too many people at this conference as a joke. But I'm not even kidding. There were like 20 open bars at happy hour last night and I still couldn't get a drink. 

It was nuts.

And today is actually the first full day.

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza.

Welcome back to Under the Hood, where we'll cover all the action for the two weeks ended September 14, 2024. This report is published bi-weekly, in rotation with The Minor Leaguers.

What we do here is analyze the most popular stocks during the week and find opportunities to either join in and ride these momentum names higher, or fade the crowd and bet against them.

We use a variety of sources to generate the list of most popular names.

There are so many new data sources available that all we need to do is organize and curate them in a way that shows us exactly what we want: a list of stocks that are seeing an unusual increase in investor interest.

This is the weekly post that aggregates all the charts we put together throughout the week and organizes them all into one, easy to flip through deck.

We've been obnoxiously talking about soft commodities lately.

But, it's for a good reason! And it all comes down to relative strength.

Aside from a few pockets of strength, the trends have been a mess in the broader commodity complex.

Products like Natural gas and precious metals have been hard to ignore if you're involved in the commodities markets.

There's more though. 

Orange Juice futures made a new all-time high this week and look primed to begin a new leg higher.

Let's talk about how we're playing it:

First, some context: 

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our International Hall of Famers list is composed of the 100 largest US-listed international stocks, or ADRs.

We've also sprinkled in some of the largest ADRs from countries that did not make the market cap cut. 

These stocks range from some well-known mega-cap multinationals such as Toyota Motor and Royal Dutch Shell to some large-cap global disruptors such as Sea Ltd and Shopify.

It's got all the big names and more–but only those that are based outside the US. You can find all the largest US stocks on our original Hall of Famers list.

The beauty of these scans is really in their simplicity.

We take the largest names each week and then apply technical filters in a way that the strongest stocks with the most momentum rise to the top.

Based on the market environment, we can also flip the scan on its head and filter for weakness.

ASC Premium Membership is for people who put money to work on a regular basis.

It’s for people who want steady idea flow through the cycle, bull market or bear.

It’s for people who want to navigate the market every day with the help of a team of professionals.

And it now includes our exclusive 12-week ASC Mastermind Course, where we’ll study the foundation of all our research.

Click here to join us RISK FREE.

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When Junk Bond traders jump ship, I’m out of stocks.

With all the talk about credit spreads “blowing out” since early August, this is an important discussion to have right now.

We always trust the bond market. Throughout history, bonds have done an impeccable job at alerting investors about problems in risk asset markets. 

When there is stress in other markets, it shows up in fixed income first.

However, as technical analysts, we are mindful of the math that is behind some of the relationships we study and give weight to.

What if I told you that industrials have been massive underperformers during this bull market? 

The absolute price chart looks incredible. How could that be?

We call it the denominator fallacy. 

Benchmarked against the S&P 500 or Nasdaq 100, of course they are underperforming. 

We think there is a similar situation playing out for our bond market ratios right now.

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

I'll be Streaming LIVE TODAY at 4 p.m. ET to talk about what that 20% correction in Semiconductors means for this market, where that money is going next, why markets are usually volatile ahead of November’s election, and what exactly we’re doing to profit from it all.

Click here to join us FREE.

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There are plenty of Technology stocks that are working.

You just have to look.

That was it?

We can just take our ball and go home now?

The A.I. story has come and gone and the recession that they've been telling us about all these years is finally here?

So this is a major top in Nvidia - ending the whole damn thing?

That's your bet?

And this massive top in Microsoft is exactly that - a historic top? One for the record books?

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to The 2 to 100 Club.

In this scan, we look to identify the strongest growth stocks as they climb the market-cap ladder from small- to mid- to large- and, ultimately, to mega-cap status (over $200B).

Once they graduate from small-cap to mid-cap status (over $2B), they come on our radar. Likewise, when they surpass the roughly $30B mark, they roll off our list.

But the scan doesn't just end there.

We only want to look at the strongest growth industries in the market, as that is typically where these potential 50-baggers come from.

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Last week, we outlined a short squeeze in Phathom Pharmaceuticals $PHAT, which has been working for us.

It doesn't seem like the market is finished squeezing the short sellers out of their biotechnology positions.

Today, we're discussing yet another biotech stock that has a ridiculously high days-to-cover ratio and short interest.

More importantly, the risk couldn't be more well-defined.

So, we're stepping up to the plate and taking another swing at a short squeeze.