From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

That was a nice pop this morning, with $SPY trading as high as 404.

I put on a long position in SPY last night at 401. So it was a nice and very welcome good-morning gift.

From the Desk of Louis Sykes @haumicharts

One of the most remarkable philosophical pieces of all time is Plato's "The Allegory of the Cave." It's commonly applied in various ways in today's society, making it one of the most significant analogies to come out of the field.

The story follows a group of people chained underground as prisoners, only knowing the wall in front of them and nothing else.

Behind them is a fire, and between the prisoners and the fire is a walkway. As people move on the walkway, the prisoners see the shadows cast on the wall.

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

Today's Hot List is another short one.

The only 13G on our list was filed by Pura Vida Investments LLC, which revealed an initial stake of 5.62% in Quanterix Corporation $QTRX.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

The market is back to happy mode.

$SPY is trading above 400, and all is well.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

This morning $SPY broke below its 200-day moving average at 395.50 and then managed to come back above it.

It shrugged off $MSFT’s earnings report last night.

I call it the comeback kid! 

Chinese content? What?

Look, I don't know. I just follow Price. They are all just letters and numbers to me. If it trades, it's liquid, and there's a good technical setup -- that's all I need.

It just so happens that this particular company is engaged in creating Chinese internet content. Ok.

But man oh man do I like the potential reward-to-risk setup here so let's get straight to the point...

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

The Investors Intelligence Bull-Bear Spread was unchanged last week, remaining just beneath the level that in the past has signaled  full embrace of equities and the opportunity for sustained stock market strength.    

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

When investing in the stock market, we always want to approach it as "a market of stocks."

Regardless of the environment, there are always stocks showing leadership and trending higher.

We may have to look harder to identify them depending on current market conditions. But there are always stocks that are going up.

The same can be said for weak stocks. Regardless of the environment, there are always stocks that are going down, too. 

We already have multiple scans focusing on stocks making all-time highs, such as The Hall of Famers, The Minor Leaguers, and The 2 to 100 Club.

We filter these universes for stocks with the best momentum and relative strength characteristics. 

Clearly, we spend a lot of time identifying and writing about leading stocks every week via multiple reports.

Now, we're also highlighting lagging stocks on a recurring basis.

Welcome to the Short Report.

I hear ya.

You don't want boring words.

You want trade ideas!

We know we haven't published many over the last year. But this has been a purposeful decision.

Think about what's happened. People who forced old strategies in this bear market were culled.

This environment has been the polar opposite to the Solana summer. You can't buy random shitcoin breakouts and multi-bag trades within a few days.

It just hasn't been that kind of market.

But this is potentially changing.

It's the weekly currency edition of What the FICC?

If the US dollar index $DXY is going to catch higher, it has a funny way of showing it. I haven't ruled out a bout of dollar strength.

Nevertheless, I'm preparing to play USD weakness.

Check it out!

The Dollar was the catalyst all along.

She was always the one.

The strong negative correlation between stocks and the US Dollar has been consistent since 2016.

When the Dollar is weak, stocks rip. End of story.

Look at how well stocks did in the 4th quarter while the US Dollar Index had its first 3 straight months of losses since the end of Covid, which if you recall sparked the greatest 52-week period for returns in the history of the stock market.

I still think it's important to focus on the Dollar, so here are some potential levels of future interest: