Back in early July, we were looking to buy a bounce in natural gas. Let's just say it was a success, as our target was hit within weeks.
But you have to remember the environment back then. Commodities had experienced a broad sell-off. And natural gas and agricultural contracts such as wheat and cotton had recently experienced drawdowns exceeding 40%.
It might have seemed like a tough call at the time, but for us it was clear. The risk/reward was in our favor as natty pulled back to test a key level. It was that simple.
Fast forward almost two months, and we’re back for more. Our risk is well-defined, and cyclical areas of the market are assuming leadership.
Today, I’ll share how we’re gearing up for a fresh leg higher in natty gas.
First, let’s take a look at the weekly chart of natural gas futures.
Our Hall of Famers list is composed of the 150 largest US-based stocks.
These stocks range from the mega-cap growth behemoths like Apple and Microsoft – with market caps in excess of $2T – to some of the new-age large-cap disruptors such as Moderna, Square, and Snap.
It has all the big names and more.
It doesn’t include ADRs or any stock not domiciled in the US. But don’t worry; we developed a separate universe for that, which you can check out here.
The Hall of Famers is simple.
We take our list of 150 names and then apply our technical filters so the strongest stocks with the most momentum rise to the top.
Let’s dive right in and check out what these big boys are up to.
"Jackson Hole" has delivered volatility once again. Seems we can always expect fireworks when the bigwigs gather at a luxury resort in the mountains. Must be nice...
We're going to take advantage of some of this volatility by positioning into a delta-neutral credit spread in the highest implied volatility ETF currently on the board.
Identifying trends is one of the most important jobs of a market technician. Regardless of our time horizon, we have to understand the general direction the market is taking.
It sounds simple, but it’s the foundation of any market thesis.
Once we have the underlying trend nailed down, we can focus on the areas of the market we want to exploit and pinpoint the best tools and strategies to do so.
When I think of the most critical trends to date, my mind immediately goes to interest rates. Rising rates and inflation have been the key drivers for two years now.
Despite some corrective action in recent months, the bond market has been reminding us that we’re still in a rising-rate environment.
Let’s take a look.
First, we have an overlay chart of the US 10-year breakeven inflation rate and the US 10-year yield:
During our “Trendlines over Headlines” conversation last week, Patrick Dunuwila and I spent some time discussing seasonal patterns in the stock market. Among the inputs to our cycle composite is the 4-year Presidential Election cycle. The tendency for stocks to make a pre-midterm election low and then see sustained strength in the year between midterms and the Presidential election is well-advertised. The stats around this are pretty amazing. On average, stocks bottomed two months prior to the midterm election and, despite a few close calls, the S&P 500 has been higher one year after every mid-term election since 1950, on average nearly 15% higher.
This is often ascribed to the market’s preference for certainty. When the balance of political power is unknown, stocks weaken. When the outcome of the election becomes more obvious, stocks rally. This is regardless of which party that outcome favors. It’s a plausible story as far as it goes.