From the Desk of Ian Culley 

Rates continue to rise along with concerns of an impending recession.

The narrative is quickly shifting back to tighter monetary policy following last week’s higher-than-anticipated CPI and strong economic data. I don’t pay too much attention to this gossip. But I do keep a pulse on the latest discourse surrounding markets.

With these newfound recessionary fears circulating, I want to share a chart I like to avoid… The 2s10s treasury spread.

I can’t remember the last time I wrote about the yield curve. It’s been so inverted (deepest inversion since the early 80s) for so long that I honestly don’t know what to think.

Nevertheless, the overlay chart of the Staples sector $XLP relative to the S&P 500 $SPY with the 2s10s spread conveys an important piece of information:

Despite an inverted yield curve, the relative downtrend in staples remains intact. 

Why does this matter?

Defensive leadership (a...

It sounds so simple.

To win at trading means to take profits.

If there are no profits taken, there is no winning. And if there is no winning, then what am I even doing here?

Subscribers to the various options education services we provide at All Star Charts know that I’m usually very clear about where I’ll take profits in the various trades I put on. Most trades have a profit target and I set the GTC limit orders out in the market and let them get hit. I’m hands-off. Unemotional.

So it would seem that I’m pretty automatic about this practice of profit-taking in all realms of the market in which I engage.

You might be surprised that this hasn’t been true in my personal index options trading.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

This morning the market popped.

Then it faded most of the day until about 1:00 p.m. ET, when the rally started, right off of support.

$SPY dipped below 396.76, and then it bounced from there.

This is the video recording of the February 23rd, 2023, Weekly Town Hall w/ Willie Delwiche.

2/23/23 2:00 PM ET

We had a resting GTC order filled at our profit target in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

We had a resting GTC order filled in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

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

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

It’s victory at sea across currency markets. But it's not stopping the US dollar from cutting through the chop...

Check it out!

The most underrated element of technical analysis has to be relative strength.

It's impossible to outperform your benchmark if you own assets that are underperforming.

Much of this work is grounded in the overarching notion that asset prices trend while volatility mean-reverts.

But humans behave as if it's the opposite.

Relative strength is merely denominating prices in a different asset than the native currency. Like price trends, relative strength also exhibits a tendency to trend, rather than mean-revert.

So, what does that mean?

The most significant insider transaction on today's Hot List is a Form 4 filing by Mark J. Erceg, the CFO of Newell Brands Inc $NWL.

Erceg reported a purchase of $999,833 in NWL.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

As I write this note, the only reason the market is up is because of $NVDA’s earnings.

We have GDP today, and that might change the tune. Hopefully, we continue to hold $SPY 400.

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 Hall of Famers, Minor Leaguers, and the 2 to 100 Club.

We filter these universes for stocks that are exhibiting 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.

We...