The first eight months of the year have been a grind.
A mid-month reversal in August took the S&P 500 from a 4% gain to 4% loss for the month and the early breadth and momentum thrusts now seem like a distant memory. Two-thirds of the way through the year and we are on track for the fewest days of more new highs than new lows observed in the past two decades, and 2022 is just ahead of 2020 (and lagging only 2009) in terms of daily swings of 1% or more on the S&P 500. Weakness in stocks this year has been exacerbated by weakness in bonds, as yields have climbed to new multi-year highs. The 60/40 stock/bond benchmark portfolio is down 14% through August.
Welcome to September. If you haven’t heard, it’s the worst month of the year for stocks. Since 1950, only two months (February and September) have been down on average. This is a case were we don’t really need to focus on the exact numbers – the large red bar for September says it all:
Regardless of the time frame, we continue to see leadership and relative strength from energy stocks.
Outside of utilities, it is the only sector flaunting positive returns on a year-to-date basis.
Even over the past several weeks, with the broader market coming under increasing pressure, energy stands out as the most resilient group.
When we look at the structural trend for energy stocks, this makes a lot more sense.
While most sectors and indexes are facing downward sloping or sideways 200-day moving averages, indicating that the path of least resistance is lower, energy stocks remain in a strong primary uptrend.
While the corrective action of the past few days has not left energy unscathed, the Energy Sector SPDR $XLE remains above our risk level of 79.
As long as this is the case, the bias is higher for energy, and we want to be looking for the strongest stocks to buy as a way to express our bullish thesis.
Getting a fresh batch of monthly candlesticks has to be one of our favorite elements in our process.
Being forced to zoom out provides us with the insightful context of what truly matters -- the primary trend.
Remember, a lot of the work we do is simple trend identification. Instead of trying to catch the uncertain market top/bottom, we're always looking to position ourselves in the path of least resistance.
Trying to catch and time market extremes is difficult and it comes with a great deal of uncertainty.
Understanding market structure, on the other hand, will give you a great deal of conviction in your overall outlook.
As many of you know, something we've been working on internally is using various bottom-up tools and scans to complement our top-down approach. It's really been working for us!
One way we're doing this is by identifying the strongest growth stocks as they climb the market-cap ladder from small- to mid- to large- and, ultimately, to mega-cap status (over $200B).
Once they graduate from small-cap to mid-cap status (over $2B), they come on our radar. Likewise, when they surpass the roughly $30B mark, they roll off our list.
But the scan doesn't just end there.
We only want to look at the strongest growth industries in the market, as that is typically where these potential 50-baggers come from.
Key Takeaway: In July, consumer expectations for stocks dropped to their lowest level since March 2009. Excessive optimism is clearly not an issue for stocks right here. But bulls need to be resilient if the market is going to move higher. Recent breadth and momentum thrusts are fodder for optimism, but the persistent downtrend in stocks is dampening rally attempts. The latest numbers from AAII, II and NAAIM suggest questions about bullish resolve are well-founded. All have rolled over and are showing increased caution. If that continues, a broader re-set becomes more likely - one in which positioning (which has been resilient) gets more in line with sentiment.
Sentiment Report Chart of the Week: Expectations For Stocks Have Tanked
With the rise in $VIX (the "fear gauge") over the past several trading days continuing to persist, we've been on the hunt for options premium selling opportunities. Higher volatility environments lend themselves to better opportunities for premium sellers who can manage their risks and size their positions conservatively.
As such, we're going to sell some premium in the banking sector to take advantage of elevated premiums and what appears to be a high likelihood of continuing sideways action.
We had a resting GTC order filled at our profit target and we pre-emptively closed another position to book a profit in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:
One of the hallmarks that's defined crypto is its sheer innovative and scalable nature.
Blockchains are bringing tremendous benefits to traditional industries; self-sovereignty of massive sums of capital, incredibly efficient payment methods, digital collectibles, play-to-earn, and decentralization are all great examples.
Perhaps one of the more overlooked outcomes of this asset class blossoming is the promotion of finance among disenfranchised youth.
