The broader market has resolved its range to the upside led by several groups, among them Consumer Discretionary, which is hitting all-time highs on an absolute basis and also relative to the Consumer Staples sector. Within that group, the Restaurant industry continues to deliver strong returns. An example is Texas Roadhouse up 20% YTD on top of an already massive ~ 1300% gain from its 2008 lows.

Click on chart to enlarge view.

To show how broad-based this rally's been, I want to highlight two stocks on the opposite ends of the spectrum, Denny's, the breakfast chain, and RCI Hospitality Holdings, the owner/operator of nightclubs.

When the biggest sector in the S&P500 representing 25% of the entire index makes an all-time daily, weekly and monthly closing high, it's probably worth paying attention. I also hear the lazy people talk about how Technology is being led by just a few names. This is simply not true as the Technology Equal-weight index is also breaking out to new highs. We're seeing a broad based rally in Tech, and it's not something new.

I've been pounding the table on Technology because it's been outperforming on an absolute basis, but also on a relative basis. Tech is not just going up, it's beating all the other sectors. Here is the Equally-weighted Tech Index Fund $RYT breaking out of a 4-month base to new all-time highs. New highs are a characteristic of uptrends, not downtrends:

From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting

If you've been reading our content over these last few weeks, you've likely noticed we've been performing a lot of deep dives on the sectors we want to be involved in on the long side like Solar, Energy (premium), Retail, and Software (premium). Healthcare in general has been a laggard and the Medical Device space continues to lead, but now we're seeing Biotechnology start to break out as well. In this post we're focused on the equal-weighted Biotech ETF $XBI, as the cap-weighted $IBB is lagging significantly and remains weak. This out-performance by the equal-weight sector ETF signifies a broad-based rally is underway, so we're looking for the best names in the sector to take advantage of this theme.

From the desk of Tom Bruni

I know you're probably tired of hearing this intro over and over again, but to start this post I want to reaffirm that at Allstarcharts we remain in the camp that stocks in the U.S. and globally are headed higher. Normally we focus on the sectors that are leading and making new all-time highs, however, the Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF $XOP is breaking out of a multi-year consolidation, signaling a new intermediate or long-term uptrend is beginning. As a result, we want to see which names in this space present the best reward/risk scenarios to take advantage of this thesis.

Last summer I wrote a pretty controversial post about the fact that everyone just assumed retailers were all going bankrupt and buying their stocks was foolish. My argument at the time was the exact opposite: I felt that to not be buying retail stocks was irresponsible. Here is that post titled, "Is This Really The End Of Retail As We Know It?". There many stocks at the time that presented us with well defined risk with rewards exponentially greater than any risk we were taking. That worked out very well for us.

At this point, we're still hearing this short retail narrative from stock market bears digging for anything they can think of to not admit they were very wrong. You see, that's the difference between people who make money and those who don't: the ability to change your mind. Remember, we're not here to be right, we're here to make money. Check your ego at the door or this market is going to rip your face off, as it has done to many retail bears.

I am a firm believer that the Stock Market, U.S. or otherwise, is in an uptrend that began in early 2016, or summer of 2016. You can buy me beers one day and we'll discuss less relevant data points, like this 6 month difference, that dorks like me enjoy arguing about over beers. The point is, however, that this is a new bull market, not a 9-year old one like some people like to tell you.

So if we're in a bull market, then consolidations within this uptrend should resolve in the direction of the underlying trend, which is up in our opinion. The first industry group to break out from this consolidation the past couple of months and make new highs is Software. It's a major standout guys and we need to pay attention. So here's a breakdown of the sector components and which ones we want to be buying right now.

Every month I host a conference call for All Star Charts Premium Members where we discuss ongoing themes throughout the global marketplace as well as changes in trends where new positions would be most appropriate. This includes U.S. Stocks & Sectors, International Stock Indexes, Commodities, Currencies and Interest Rate Markets.

The new volatility regime in 2018 has caused many to question the uptrend in stocks that we've seen the past couple of years. In this call we will go over all of the markets around the world including intermarket relationships that help us identify whether risk appetite overwhelms any risk aversion we're seeing from institutional investors. On Tuesday, we'll focus on the strongest sectors and strongest stocks that we believe will be leaders during the next leg higher throughout the rest of 2018.

This month's Conference Call will be held on Tuesday May 15th at 7PM ET. Here are the Registration Details:

When I go through charts of the most popular crypto currencies, it's hard to ignore the fact that we're seeing prices breaking out above downtrend lines from their respective highs. Go one by one, we're seeing it all over.

So what does that mean? Should we be buying all the crypto currencies right now?

From the desk of Tom Bruni

Many have fixated their attention on the "triangle pattern" that's formed the NYSE Composite Index and other major US indices.  This pattern is a visual representation of the indecision between buyers and sellers in the market, and its resolution typically leads to a significant move in the direction of its breakout.  In times like this where the index itself has little directional conviction, a study of the components may offer some insight into which way the market resolves.

It's impossible for me to ignore. As someone who pays such close attention to Momentum, the fact that there are so few stocks showing bearish momentum characteristics is absurd. The overwhelming strength being shown here from stocks is spectacularly bullish in my opinion. Combine that with the fact that everyone thinks the world is coming to end, and boom, you've got a trade!

This is the most valuable analysis I do every month. When you sit there with some music on and just rip through monthly charts, it really gives you perspective. We're taking a step back and reanalyzing the trends. It's easy to get caught in the day-to-day noise. This exercise helps avoid getting whipped around. I encourage everyone to make their own list of Monthly Candles.