I'm not sure if you noticed, but the MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund just went out at the highest weekly close in its history.

For you youngsters, this is a big deal.

You see, when I first got in this business, it was the Summer of 2003. Young JC was living in New York City for the first time, downtown in TriBeCa, ready to take on the world.

I was just an intern (envelope stuffer) at the time, at a firm called Merrill Lynch, which later went on to disappear with the likes of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns. At that time though, in 2003, this gig was a big deal.

Anyway, for the next 4 years, Emerging Markets AVERAGED A 100% RETURN PER YEAR.

Yes you read that right. My career got started with Emerging Markets being the best place to be on earth. That stuck with me.

If you ask veteran traders and investors, they'll tell you that what was happening when you first got into the business will impact how you think for the rest of your career.

It's true.

Fortunately, I haven't been an...

This week we're looking at long setups in the IT and Auto sectors that are witnessing a good move. 

We retired our "Five Bull Market Barometers" in mid-July to make room for a new weekly post that's focused on the three most important charts for the week ahead.

This is that post, so let's jump into this week's edition.

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”

There's a lot of noise out there.

It's poison.

The glorified gossip columns and cartoon networks keep proving to be the equivalent of sugar and trans fat packed fast food.

Don't be mentally obese.

Stick to price.

It's better for the portfolio.

It's better for the soul.

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but owning stocks and spending our time looking for stocks to...

This week on the podcast, I'm thrilled to have Jeff Weiss, CMT join me for a really fun chat. If you know Jeff, you already know that he's quite the character. The stories he has from his early days in the 1960s and 70s are awesome. Have you ever heard of a squawk box? How about quote machines that you had to stand in line to use, and would still only get one stock quote at a time?

In this conversation Jeff shares old stories about how he got his first job, cold-calling CEOs of different firms until one of them finally gave him a shot. Even if you're not into Technical Analysis, and you're just a fan of the market, or business in general, this episode is for you.

Make sure to check out Jeff's book: Relationship Investing, named "Best Investment Book of the Year" by the 2018 Stock Trader’s Almanac.

This was a ton of fun. Big shout out to Jeff Weiss for joining me on the show.

Enjoy!

When stocks are in strong uptrends, they don't just do well on an absolute basis, but they also tend to outperform their alternatives. We talk about that a lot around here.

Today's chart has to show the Gold Fund breaking down to new all-time lows relative to the Nasdaq, as well as U.S. Treasury Bonds making new all-time relative lows as Interest Rates keep spiking.

Here is that chart showing the Nasdaq breaking out to new highs relative its alternatives:

I'm loving this new Young Aristocrats report the All Star Charts team as recently begun producing. There have been some great ideas here for me in helping my son build a long term investment portfolio of names with both price appreciation potential, but also steady and increasing dividend growth. Sometimes, traders forget this is what stocks are supposed to do!

Of course, while scrolling through the list, one of the names caught my attention for a tactical options trade. You can say I "discovered" this opportunity...

Is there anything out there not going up in price, I mean other than U.S. Treasury Bonds?

Stocks are making new highs. Precious metals are underperforming, as usual, but at least they're trying to push up against new absolute highs.

Looks like the Bond bulls are just throwing in the towel:

With the stocks in the U.S. and all over the world breaking out to new all-time highs, how do you think people are reacting to it?

Do you see excess optimism out there?

I don't.

It's a new year and I'm back on the TV to chat with Catherine Murray at BNN Bloomberg. I wish I was in Toronto to shoot this live so I could get some Thai food or something afterwards, but we'll settle for a Skype call in this one! Man I love visiting Toronto.

Anyway, I don't think there's been anyone on her show who has been as bullish stocks as we have over the past 6-8 months. I even asked her, but she just laughed. Remember Just Buy Them Baby! from July?

What's changed since then? Only additional sector rotation, further breadth expansion and unparalleled participation (and new leadership) from global markets. Are you not entertained?

Check out the interview in full. We touch on some important points:

This week Howard and I talk about the evolution of markets. There are new ways for investors to allocate money almost every day. SPACs are back! More IPOs this year, and many of them going up. New tickers every day.

What do we do about it? How can we get involved? We discuss all of that in this video!

As we enter 2021, what are the areas we need to be watching? Howard thinks there are 3 major themes to be long for the next decade:

Fintech, Healthcare & Education.

It's hard for me to disagree, especially from a Technical perspective.

Here's the video in full:

Now that the official period of the Santa Claus rally is over, we can look back and see if Santa actually showed up or not.

As we discussed last month before it got started, the Santa Claus rally lasts for 7 trading days: the last 5 of 2020 and the first 2 of 2021. Based on the way the calendar worked out, this year's festivities began on December 24th and lasted through yesterday, January 5th.

The S&P500 rallied about 1% during this period, which is perfectly normal market behavior for this time of year: