From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

We held our November Monthly Strategy Session Wednesday night. Premium Members can access and rewatch it here.

Non-members can get a quick recap of the call simply by reading this post each month.

By focusing on long-term, monthly charts, the idea is to take a step back and put things into the context of their structural trends. This is easily one of our most valuable exercises as it forces us to put aside the day-to-day noise and simply examine markets from a “big-picture” point of view.

With that as our backdrop, let’s dive right in and discuss three of the most important charts and/or themes from this month’s call.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

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. Click here to check it out.

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.

Here’s this week’s list:

*Click table to enlarge view

The "pain trade" is always higher.

I say that often. And its usually true.

And nothing turns the screws harder on bears than rallies in Tesla $TSLA.

So let's get after them with a "double or nothing" bet.

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

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

From the Desk of Steve Strazza and Alfonso Depablos

Today’s largest insider transaction is another Form 4 filing by George A. Borba Jr,, director of CVB Financial Corp $CVBF.

Borba reported a CVBF purchase worth $1.6 million.

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

The market barely reacted Wednesday afternoon following Powell’s remarks, cooking up a big, fat nothing burger for investors.

Market participants took the decision to leave rates untouched in stride. After all, the pause in the hiking cycle was the expected outcome. Since investors already pegged the Fed, the valuable information hung on Powell’s words or forward guidance.

Yet judging by today’s performance, it appears the market just needed a little time to marinate. 

Yesterday’s failed reaction has given way to a delayed response as long-duration bonds scream higher. 

But before we get ahead of ourselves and rush out to buy the bond market bottom, let’s check the charts…

First, the monthly 10-year T-note chart:

JC wanted to put this trade on yesterday (I think he did), but I wanted to wait until after the Fed announcement juuuuuust in case. You never know what shenanigans may take place on binary event risk days.

Well, my patience was rewarded. I am able to put the same delta-neutral credit spread on today at the same premiums that were offered yesterday, but now I don't have to sweat the fed.

Consumer Staples stocks, as a sector, have been displaying relatively high implied volatility in their options and so I wanted a name from this space that was stuck in a range.

The candidate that we all agreed on was Proctor & Gamble $PG:

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

From the Desk of Steve Strazza and Alfonso Depablos

Today’s largest insider transaction is another Form 4 filing by Charles Bryan Daniels, director of Fifth Third Bancorp $FITB.

Daniels reported an FITB purchase worth $1,503,495.

This is the video recording of our November 1st Monthly Charts Live Strategy Session

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.