"Rates, the US dollar, crude oil, and the S&P 500... repeat!"
These charts swirl atop every investor’s mind as markets await the upcoming rate hike decision.
Meanwhile, it’s messy!
The S&P 500 challenges the upper bounds of a multi-month range. The US dollar and interest rates chop sideways. And crude oil remains resilient despite increased selling pressure.
But not all markets are trapped in a trading range right now. In fact, there’s one forex cross breaking down, suggesting lower yields and cheaper crude oil…
It's the nokkie-stocky, the Norwegian krone and the Swedish krone!
Check out the triple-pane chart of the US 1o-year yield, crude oil futures, and the NOK/SEK cross:
We've had some great trades come out of this small-cap-focused column since we launched it back in 2020 and started rotating it with our flagship bottom-up scan, Under the Hood.
For the first year or so, we focused only on Russell 2000 stocks with a market cap between $1 and $2B.
That was fun, but we wanted to branch out a bit and allow some new stocks to find their way onto our list.
We expanded our universe to include some mid-caps.
To make the cut for our Minor Leaguers list, a company must have a market cap between $1 and $4B.
From the Desk of Steve Strazza @sstrazza and Alfonso Depablos @Alfcharts
This is one of our favorite bottom-up scans: Follow the Flow.
In this note, we simply create a universe of stocks that experienced the most unusual options activity — either bullish or bearish, but not both.
We utilize options experts, both internally and through our partnership with The TradeXchange. Then, we dig through the level 2 details and do all the work upfront for our clients.
Our goal is to isolate only those options market splashes that represent levered and high-conviction, directional bets.
Our precious metals index is hitting fresh 52-week highs despite the waning strength in gold and silver.
Only three markets comprise the index. That leaves only one possible culprit – platinum!
First palladium, now platinum?
It doesn’t matter whether you consider platinum or palladium true precious metals. The industrious side of the family is chipping in, supporting a new structural uptrend for the entire space.
Our precious metals index is hitting fresh 52-week highs despite the waning strength in gold and silver.
Only three markets comprise the index. That leaves only one possible culprit – platinum!
First palladium, now platinum?
It doesn’t matter whether you consider platinum or palladium true precious metals. The industrious side of the family is chipping in, supporting a new structural uptrend for the entire space.
Let’s check it out!
Before we dive into the levels…
Commercial hedgers are unwinding their net-long position after reaching extremes last year. Similar positioning in 2018 marked a key inflection point, resulting in a multi-year rally.
