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

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

From the Desk of Louis Sykes

Every child loves a bedtime story.

These stories allow their mind to wander from busy thoughts into an adventure. It provides a comforting reality and a narrative they can consciously control.

Comically, in this sense, children and investors are more similar than we let on.

It's just that one obtains comfort from an adventurous tale while the other derives solace in news headlines.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is bad or wrong. I'm just noting its existence.

The vast majority of investors need to understand why a stock is moving rather than solely following technicals and money flow.

I totally get it.

Today's Hot List is a short one.

The only Form 4 on our list was filed by the chief marketing officer of Dave & Buster's Entertainment $PLAY, who revealed a small purchase of $149,684.

This activity comes on the heels of a handful of Form 4 and Form 13 filings for PLAY by Hill Path Capital over the past month.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

With the December CPI up on deck for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, I think I'll hold off on talking about ideas until the data is released.

Let's see how the market reacts.

A question that keeps coming up to me is why Consumer Staples and Low Volatility stocks are outperforming.

These are normally the types of things you see when stocks in general are under pressure.

This is the kind of rotation you get in bear markets.

But the back half of 2022 was good for stocks. The 4th quarter was great.

Most stocks have been ripping for almost 7 months now. This is NOT the type of environment where Staples and Low Volatility stocks tend to outperform.

And while they might be making new multi-year highs relative to the S&P500, it's pretty easy to outperform an index with so much exposure to growth stocks. So can we even call that 'outperformance'?

This week we're looking into the Infrastructure sector.

We retired our "Five Bull Market Barometers" in 2020 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.

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

Is the dollar going to finally bounce?

I have no idea, but the euro will likely answer that question in the coming days.

Check it out!

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 The Hall of Famers, The 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 regular basis.

Welcome to the Short Report.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

The market gapped up nicely and held strong today.

We've got CPI in the morning, so be on your toes.

With the NFL Playoffs getting underway this weekend (Go Bills!), it's time we put the offense on the field!

I was kicking around a bullish idea in a consumer staples name during our Analyst meeting today. The chart looks great. The setup is good. We can position for a nice potential reward versus the risk we'd incur to put the trade on. Everyone agreed that its probably a good trade.

But... is it aggressive enough?

Answer: No, it's not.

The thinking that emerged from our chat was that risk is back on in the stock market; therefore, we need to get into the most reasonably aggressive names we can. And one of the areas where risk is most definitely "on" is in the homebuilders sector.

If all we did was watch the evening news or listen to the inflation and interest rate scaremongers, we'd reasonably conclude that a long-term and painful bear market for real estate and housing in particular is a slam dunk. No contest.

If a severe real estate bear market was in the cards, would we be seeing homebuilders ripping of their recent lows the way we have over the past couple of months?