From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Alfonso Depablos @AlfCharts

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 orignal 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.

Let’s dive in and take a look at some of the most important stocks from around the world.

Here’s this week’s list:

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

International credit spreads are contracting.

Investors are running from imminent global collapse by reaching for emerging market bonds over risk-free US Treasuries. 

Wait, perhaps I heard it wrong. 

It could have been a US economic collapse. 

Or was it the Chinese yuan replacing the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency?

Honestly, I don't pay much attention to the doom and gloom. (But I do find it amusing.)  

I’m not the only one ignoring the bad vibes.

The markets are also disregarding the fear mongers…

Check out the Emerging Bond ETF (EMB) versus the US Treasuries ETF (IEF) ratio overlaid with the S&P 500 ETF (SPY):

These two lines follow a similar path – a path currently driven by burgeoning risk appetite.

I have a feeling there will be a large segment of the trader population that hates this trade. And that is precisely why I think it has a good chance of working.

It's Friday. It's late in the day. I won't waste your time with a long preamble. Let's get right to it.

We've adjusted a position in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

The most significant transaction on today's list comes in a Form 4 filing by Thomas W. Warsop III, president and chief executive officer of ACI Worldwide Inc $ACIW.

Warsop revealed the acquisition of 43,000 shares of ACIW, equivalent to $1 million.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

It's Friday again, and it's options expiration again.

Trading can be harder on days like these, so it's a good idea to trade smaller.

There was an inbound question to me this week regarding adjustments I make on short strangle trades.

For reference: A Short Strangle is a delta-neutral options position that consists of selling equal amounts of out-of-the-money naked puts and calls for a net credit. If everything goes according to plan, the underlying stays in a trading range and I can realize a profit buying back the short options for cheaper than I sold them.

Of course, it doesn’t always work out that simply. Many times, we need to play defense. Defense often involves rolling short options further away from the current price action. In practice, this means buying to close the existing short option and selling a further out-of-the-money option (in the same expiration series) for a combined net debit, which reduces my total net credit in the campaign.

The reader was asking me how I choose my “take profit” limit order following a defensive adjustment. Here was my answer:

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

Even though the indices trended higher today, it felt like we weren't moving at all.

Tomorrow is Friday, and for the past few weeks they've been running the market higher.

We've adjusted a position in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

If this is a bull market, then what comes next?

Breadth Expansion.

More upside participation.

Sector Rotation.

The list of the 52-week highs getting longer.

We've been betting that this is a bull market since last year. That has worked in our favor.

But what does the market need to do to reiterate that we are still, in fact, in a strong, healthy bull market?

More new highs.

Here's a look at the NYSE new 52-week highs list creeping higher in recent weeks.

The largest insider buy on today's list comes in a Form 4 filing by the executive vice president and chief people officer of Stericycle $SRCL.

That purchase was worth $308,618.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

Let see what today brings.

I still think it would be healthy for the indices to pull in further.

$SPY closing its gap down to 422.92 would be a decent contraction.